.^^i 





Class 

Book__ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



IT TELLS ALL ABOUT THE INDUS- 
TRIES OF THE STATE, ITS CLI- 
MATE AND RESOURCES. 



IVj'itten in Common Sense Language withont 
■paint or varnish^ 



/ 



/, 



BY 



DJK. W. B. SHOBMAKBB 



1887. 




NEWVILL,B, PA., TIMES STEAM PRINT. 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year t'i?7 by 

Dr. W. B, Shoemaker, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Cougresa at v • Milton. D C 



ALL KIGIITS RE&ERVED. 






Introduction. 

Be it known to all the world and the rest of mankind, 
that within the last few years, much has been said and 
written about Florida, extolling this land of '-Sunshine and 
Flowers. Many, if not all of these descriptions have some 
truth in them, but much of it is so embellished, in such 
glowing colors and only the bright side shown, that many 
persons come to the conclusion at once that if they can only 
get to this land of promise (by those interested) that sick- 
uess and sorrow will never reach them and that labor and 
trouble will vex them never more. 

This little book has been written with a view to unde- 
ceive such persons ; to take the glamor from these stories 
and to show "Florida as it is" without paint or varnish, 
that is the good and bad that has to be encountered in this 
land, to show people what they must do here and how to 
do it. 

I do not propose to write a history or geography of the 
State, but simply to state the facts as they would present 
themselves to you were you to take a trip through the State 
at this time. 



I will describe the manner of living, the t-tate of society, 
the caltivation of the soil, (sand) clearing lands, draining 
marshes, planting and cultivating orange groves, tropical 
fruits, the kind of houses the people live in, the kind and 
(juality of stock they raise, the game and fish they have, 
the mosquitos and pests that are there — in fact I propose 
that this little book, " Florida As It Is" shall be to the 
reader a complete trip all over Florida at a very small cost; 
that the same in'ormation in the usual way of traveling 
would cost you hundreds of dollars and then you would 
have no more accurate information and no more of it than 
you will have after a careiul reading of this book. I have 
also aimed to write the book in plain common sense lang- 
uage so that any and every person can, and will understand 
it. I have tried to avoid all personalities so as to give of- 
feuse to none. 

I have given the facts as they are without fear or favor. 
I have had very little outside aid. The entire book is my 
own observation and experience, being right on the ground 
and I will only say, that after reading the book you will 
know more about Florida, its ins and outs and pros and 
cons, than nine-tenths of the people who have spent a season 
there and in addition saved much money. 

THE AUTHOR. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS, 



Florida was aiscovered by Juan Ponce de Leon, 
April 4th, 15 12. In 1539 it was explored and in 
1565 a body of French Caivinists, who had estab- 
lished a settlement three years previous, w^ere 
driven out by the Spaniards — the latter held pos- 
session until 1763, when it reverted to England by 
session in 1781. The Spaniards regained posses- 
sion of the country and two years later were con- 
firmed in their possession by the peace of Versailles. 
In 1820 Florida was ceded by Spain to the United 
States, received a territorial constitution in 1833, 
and was admitted into the Union as a State, March 
3d, 1845. 

Florida is located in the extreme Southern part 
of the United States, between latitudes 24 and 31, 
and longitude 80 and 88 West from Greenwich. 
Its greatest length North and South is about 500 
miles, and the longest line from East to West is 
about 400 miles. The State is amorphous in shape- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



being neither round, oval, oblong or square. Its 
area is about 60,000 square miles or about ihe size 
of Penns} Ivania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connec- 
ticut and Rhode Island all put together. 

The State is bounded on the North by Georgia 
and Alabama, on the west by Alabama and the 
Gulf of Mexico, on the South by the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. 

The State is divided into forty counties, and 
the area or surface of the State is land and water. 
The land mav be divided or classed as f^jllows : 

High Pine, Flat Woods Pine, Scrub Pine, Gray 
or Rolling Hammock, Low Hammock, Cypress, 
Marsh and Swamp Lands. 

The water may be and is divided into lakes, 
rivers, creeks, springs, ponds and bay heads. 

LAKES. 

There are thousands of lakes in the State, rang- 
ing in size from less than a quarter of an acre to 
thousands of acres in extent. Lake Ocheechobee 
alone, covers not less than hsilf a million of acres 
of land. 

Lake Apopka covers not less than forty thous- 
and acres East and West ; Tohopekaligas about 
the same. There are very man}^ other lakes that 
cover from ten to ten thousand acres, and some of 
them much moi-e. Most of these lakes are very 
deep and the water in them is clear and said to be 
pure in nearly all of them. A great many of these 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



]ake8, e.^pecially the smaller ones have nice slop- 
ing banks, which, with the bottoms are sandy, and 
perfectly safe to enter, or drive into the lakes in so 
far as swamping is concerned, but it is always well 
enough to go slow^ly when in the water, or you 
may get beyond your depth before you are aware 
of it ; many persons have lost their lives by ventur- 
ing too L.r in places of this kind. 

Some of the larger, and a few of the smaller 
lakes and ponds have quick-sand holes. These 
are specially to be avoided, for should you by ac- 
cident or otherwise, get into one of these holes or 
places, your chances for getting out would be very 
slim indeed, unless help was right at hand. Some 
of these lakes, both large and small, have what 
they c^ll muck bottoms. This muck is njthuiu- 
more or less than the accumulation of decayed 
vegetable matter that has been accumulating for 
ages : these when drained make the richest and 
best vegetable and sugar-cane land in the State 
and perhaps in the world, and here is where the 
Disston Land and Drainage Company are making 
their money. 

RIVERS. 

There are quite a number of rivers (so called) 
in the State, the largest of which is the St. Johns. 
The peculiarity of this river is that it flows North- 
w^ard, while the entire State seems to fall off 
toward the South, and eventually sinks into the 



8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding all this, the 
current of this river is toward the North, This 
river is navigable for more than two hundred miles, 
and a very large class of steamers ply on it from 
Jacksonville to Sanford, a distance of about two 
hundred miles and make regular daily trips. 
Smaller steamers run beyond Sanford, it being the 
head of navigation ior large steamers before the 
era of railroads in Florida. The St. Johns was 
about the only highway on which travel was had, 
and merchandise could be shipped from the sea- 
board to the interior of the State. Some of the 
other rivers of note are Suwanee, Appalachicola, 
Oklockonee. Ancilla, Santa Fee, Withlacoochee, 
Pease, Caloosahatchee, Kissmimee, Ocklawaha, 
Indian and Wekiva. The most of these fivers or 
waters are navigable for small steamers and are 
thus utilized. There are other rivers or rather 
kind of natural canals leading irom one lake to 
another. Many of these are being dredged and 
cleaned out so that small steam boats can run cut 
of one lake into another, thus in many cases, mak- 
ing water navigation from place to place for re- 
member that very many of the larger lakes have 
steamers on them, both for freight traffic and 
pleasure. Nearly all streams that have any cur- 
rent at all are called rivers. The streams in 
Florida are nearly all sluggish, as for example 
the St. Johns River is said to have only a fall of 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



six feet in two hundred miles, and were you to 
travel on it you would probably say it had no cur- 
rent at all. It is very crooked ; some of the bends 
being so short that the larger steamers sometimes 
have difhculty in getting through. I know of no 
streams of any length in the State that have a cur- 
rent of more than a mile in a half da}^. There are 
also many waters here called rivers, that are noth- 
ing more or less than arms of the Gulf or Atlantic, 
extending inland as the Indian River. This river 
is on the east coast and separated from the Atlan- 
ic, by a strip of land, very narrow in places and 
wider in other places. This water has no current, 
its surface bein^ on a level with the Atlantic Ocean. 
Said by some persons to be two feet higher than 
the Atlantic Ocean. 

UNDERGROUND RIVERS AND SPPJNGS. 

There seems to be and certainly is, underground 
rivere here as" is proven by such large streams 
l^ursting out of the ground as Silver Sprino-s. 
This spring covers about four acres ot ground and 
is from forty to sixty feet deep, and the run from 
it is one of the principal sources of the Ocklawaha 
River and good sized steamers come up the run 
into the springs 

Clay Springs is another of the same kind, only 
not quite so large. Glen Cove, Euniak and many 
others demonstrate the fact that there are many 
underground streams in Florida. 

Again streams of water and even lakes suddenly 



lo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



disappear. 'Lake Levy, a body of water which, 
when lull, covers about twelve hundred acres, has 
been totally dry, the water disappearing in a few 
days, and in one instance remaining so for several 
years and nearly all the bottom was farmed in corn 
and cotton. There was only a small river running 
where the lake was and it disappeared about where 
the centre of the lake was. This hole seemed to 
fill up and the ground became covered with water 
again. 

This has occurred several times within tlie last 
rifty years. The laxe is now tull of water and is 
kwown as Lake Levy or Paines Prairie. No per_ 
son knows how soon or when the bottom of the 
lake will again fall out. 

Between Orange Lake and Micanop}', as; well 
as in the neighborhood of Gainesville, there are 
great holes in the earth. The bottom is far below 
the surface of the lakes in the surrounding country. 
Some of these holes or sinks are more than one 
hundred feet deep, and several hundred feet in di- 
ameter at the top, and are funnel shaped. Many 
of them are perfectly dry, and have large trees 
growing inside nearly to the bottom. The tops of 
many of them does not reach as high as the surface 
of the ground surrounding the hole. 

Others of these holes are barren of trees and 
there is water at the bottom. How deep this water 
is, I had no means of fmding out and no person 
could tell me anything about it. The fact is, the 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. ii 



natives seem to be afraid of these places and do 
not care to go near them. There is not even any 
signs that cattle or stock of any kinds goes near 
tlie holes, especially those that have water in them. 

There are some natural curiosities in Florida, 
and they are of such a nature that I know of no- 
where else in the world that the same kind exist. 
Take for instance this Silver Spring, which is a 
veritable Niagara Falls, turned upside down, and 
it the reader should ever visit Florida, do not fail 
to see it, with its pure, clear pellucid waters, big 
cat fish and other kinds offish, and where you can 
drop a nickel or any other small coin or substance 
and watch its descent until it strikes the bottom 
from forty to sixty feet below you. The water is 
so clear that you can see objects on the bottom 
about as plainlv as if there was no water there at 
all. 

PONDS AND CREEKS. 

Ponds are grass lakes, usually with mud or 
muck bottoms, and are inhabited with fro^rs, alii- 
gators and other things too numerous to mention. 
Creeks are connections between sloughs or cypress 
swamps, as Shingle Creek, near Kissimmee, or 
Sweet Water Creek, near Bayard, in Duval county 
and many others. 

FISFI AND OYSTERS. 

In nearly all of the waters of Florida tfiere are 
abundance of Fish, Trout, (P>lack Bass), Straw- 
berry Bass (Perch,) Blue and Mud Catfish, some 



12 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

of which are very large. They say there are oth- 
er fish here also, such as Bream, Red Horse, 
White Fish, Eels. &c. This may be, but I have 
seen none of the latter. 

There are a great mon\- oysters, both on the 
Gulf and Atlantic Coasts of Plorida, but they are 
very small and inferior in every way, to the 
oysters farther North-East; there is no care taken 
of these oyster beds, and it is said many of them 
are being destroyed by wash from rivers and 
streams, covering them up with sand and other 
debris. These are called Coon Oysters, and cer- 
tainly would not be relished bv the epicure or con- 
connjisseur. 

. ALLIGATORS. 

There are thousands and millions of Allig;4tors 
of all sizes from a few inches in length to almost 
fifteen or more feet. There seems to be but one 
species of alligators, and all the difference there is 
in them is in size alone. They can, and do live 
both in and out of the water. They are not dang- 
erous except when wounded on their nests or hi- 
bernating grounds are molested. A ten feet alli- 
gator can crush a man's body with his jaws or kill 
him with, a strike of his tail. 

At mating time frequent fights occur between 
the males At such times you can hear them hol- 
low for miles. Their hollowing is something like 
a mad bull. 

They are a heavy, ugly and ungainly animal, 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 13 

and are something after the shape of an enormous 
Lizzard. They are web footed and their hind legs 
are much longer than their front ones, and are at- 
tached higher up or nearer the back than the front 
ones and their legs are unproportionately close to- 
gether. They swim slowly in the water — more 
like floating than otherwise, and when swimming 
or floating, their bodies are about one-third out of 
the water. 

Their movements on land are usually slow and 
awkward, but when pursued or pursuing, they can, 
and do travel as fast, or faster than a man can 
walk, or even run for a short distance. They 
move on land in very nearly a straight line. They 
are so iormed that that they cannot make short 
turns or curves when in motion on land. Notwith- 
standing all this, you should not fool with them 
when at rest, as they sometimes make very awk- 
ward motions with their tails and jaws, and you 
cannot always tell what kind of a move they may 
make. There is some danger of being bitten or 
receivinpf a stroke with their tail. 

Their traveling on land is principally in the 
night time or on dark cloudy days during a rain or 
immediately after a shower, when they frequently 
go from one lake or swamp to another. On fair, 
warm and sunshmy days you can see thousands of 
them basking on old logs and stumps on the banks 
of the lakes something after the style of little turtles 
in tlie mill-dams of the North. 



14 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

Their nests or hibernating grounds are formed 
by themselves, where the water is rather shallow 
or on a knoll or kind of island They collect all 
manner of stuff, pieces of logs, sticks, brush, grass, 
moss, pine knots and indeed nothing seems to come 
amiss to them. This is all formed into a mass 
with mud, muck and wild cabbage leaves and sand. 
These nests when completed, rise several feet 
above the surface of the water and are kind of 
saucer shaped or scooped out on the top. Here 
they deposit their eggs, and cover them, and 
nature does the balance 

The "gators" however do not leave this locality 
during incubation, and here let me say it is rather 
dangerous to examine these nests, or even ap- 
proach them unless you are well armed and have 
a steady nerve and well prepared to do battle, for 
unless somebody has been there before you and 
killed the "gators," you are sure to see them and 
they will be upon you before you are aware if not 
on your guard, and sometimes as many as a djzen 
vj'iW approach you from different points and here 
they are dangerous. If however you have a good 
Winchester or some other good repeating rifle of 
about forty-four calibre and are a good and true 
shot, you need not have much to lear, for if you 
kill one or two of them, the others will soon disap- 
pear, and here let me say, the fatal spot to hit an 
Alligator is right in the lower part ot the neck or 
right behind the front leg, below the middle. You 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



can sometimes kill them by sijooting lliem in tin; 
eye or through the bod}', but it is not a sure thing 

The mouth of the ''o-ator" contains eighty-four 
teeth. Forty in the lower and forty- four in the 
upper jaws, and they are all canine or sharp point- 
ed, and some of them in a big ''gator" are as much 
as three inches long, and are very irregular, and 
if one becomes broken nature replaces it. 

The head of a ten foot "gator" is ju--t about the 
size of an ordinar}' horse head. The jaws are full 
length of the head. The condyles or hinges are 
on the necK, so you see when he opens his mouth 
the entire head is in two pieces as it werk. 
Imagine a horse to be able open his mouth clear 
up to his ears and you can have an idea of a 
'•gator's" mouth. It is no trouble for a "gator" to 
svNallow a good chunk oi a dog or a little nigger 
at one swallow, both of which it is said, they are 
very fond of. 

The top or upper part of the head is very flat 
and the bones are from a half to three-quarters of 
an mch thick, hence you might about as well shoot 
against a rock as against a "gator^s" head to kill 
him. They feed on just about anything that comes 
in their way. In many instances pine knots have 
been found in their stomachs, worn as smooth as 
glass. 

DISSTON LAND AND DRAINAGE COM- 
PANY. 

The head quarters of the company is at Kissim- 



i6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

mee City, a town of three or four years growth, 
situated on the North shore of WestTohopekaliga. 
The city now is said to have about twelve hundred 
inhabitants. I think however if eight hundred 
w^ere taken out of the town, but few would be left. 
Tliis Disston Company was formed three or four 
years ago. They built several steam and dredge 
boats, and went to work to lower the lakes of East 
and West Tohopekaliga bv opening a canal 
through a kind of natural drain or water way into 
Lake Ocheechob'ee. After their engineer corps 
had surveyed and gone over the route, their report 
seemed to show that there was a fall of some seven- 
ty feet from the south end ol Lake Tohope- 
kaliga to Punta Rassa on the Gulf Coast, and that 
Tohopekaliga through the nalura) channel had a 
fall of about one inch to the mile, which, by prop- 
er canalling, «&c., could be increased by shorten- 
ing the distance to at least three inches to the mile, 
which would, by their calculation, drain and re- 
claim about rive million acres of land. An ar- 
rangement was made with the State that the com- 
pany should have half of cdl the land in fee simple 
that should be thus reclaimed. On these conditions 
the company went to work, commencing at the 
South end of Tohopekaliga and cut a canal some 
three or four miles into Cypress Lake, and from 
thence into Lake Kissimmee five or six miles. 
This canal is wide and deep enough to allow a 
<(()()(] sized st«'amboat to pass through. It was 



FLORIDx\ AS IT IS. 17 



found as soon as the canal was opened, that the 
water in Tohopekaliga would be drawn off to a 
certain extent, though these canals are carried in- 
to Ocheechobee through the Kissimmee River. 

The next move was to cut a canal a distance of 

about three miles, thereby connecting East and 

West Tohopekaliga Lakes ; this was accomplished. 

Then the Kissimmee River was next cleaned 

out, dredged and shortened, thus opening a water 

navigation for steamers and other boats into Lake 

Ocheechobee. This lake seems to have no natural 

outlet, but near the South end of it and about four 

miles westward, is Lake Hickpochee, which is the 

head water of the Caloosahatchee River. To 

work, the company went and cut a canal from 

Ocheechobee into this lake and then opened and 

dredged the last named river, which runs through 

Lake Flirt, and thus completed the water route 

to Punta Rassa on San Carlos Bay on the Gull of 

Mexico. This, however did not seem to lower the 

water in Ocheechobee very much. They are now 

trying to drain this latter lake into the St. Lucie 

Sound on the Ath'intic coast, thus necessitating the 

cutting of a canal through swamps and other lands, 

a distance of some thirty miles. A part of this 

work is done, but it will be sometime before it is 

completed. And what effect it will have w^hen 

completed is yet to be determined. One thing 

however is a fixed fact, the company have opened 

water communication from Kissimmee Citj^ to the 



i8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

Gulf, and steamers and sail boats are making 
trips between these poinds and they have lowered 
the waters in both the Tohopekaliga Lakes, about 
live feet tl\us reclaiming. The company claims 
about two and a half million acres. I think 
the claims are too large, but be this as it may, there 
are thousands of acres of as good land as there is 
in Florida under cultivation to-day that was two 
years ago covered with water, and thousands of 
acres more are being prepared t) plant sugar cane 
and vegetables. Should this company fail to re- 
claim any more land, they have already done a 
grand work, both for the State and themselves. 
HIGH PINE LANDS. 

Now the reader must not understand that any of 
the lands in Florida are very much elevated above 
the level of the ocean or large lakes. Take the 
State throughout and it is flat — very flat, more so 
than in Kansas, but still there are elevations and 
depressions, none of which exceed a very few 
hundred feet. I suppose the elevations about cor- 
respond with the depressions. 

The term '-High Pine Lands," as well as the 
other descriptive terms used, are relative terms and 
used more to designate the kind and quality of the 
land than its elevation, "High Pine" Land would 
be just as well designated, and perhaps better by 
calling it dry pine land, and that is just what it is. 
This land is among the highest in the State The 
best quality of this land is covered with a growth 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 19 



oi large yellow pine trees, some of which are 
curly pine, and very valuable. The trees are 
nearly all large, some ot them as much as two and 
a half and three feet across the stump and from 
fifty to seventy-five feet without a limb. When 
sawed into timber, it is worth t'rom thirteen to 
twenty-two dollars per thousand feet at the mill, 
and the curly pine is worth irom forty to fifty dol- 
lars per thousand when sawed into lumber at the 
mill This kind of land you will usually find in 
tlie neighborhood of deep lakes with sand bottoms 
and rather high, sloping banks — the trees growing 
nearly to the water's edge. 

Occasionally in the high pine lands, you will 
find here and there a scrubby live oak. The un- 
dergrowth is wild oats. This is a kind of rou^h 
grass that grows tall and not at all thickly on the 
ground. It is not good for much. Stock will eat 
it when they can get nothing else. 

There is very little Bramble or Palmetto on this 
kind of land, hence it is easily cleared and pre- 
pared for cultivation and when it is well fertilized 
will produce melons, beans, cucumbers, corn, 
and sweet potatoes,- and makes excellent orani^e 
land. Many prefer this kind of land for oranges 
and all the semi-tropical fruits ; pmrticularly those 
of the citrus family, for the reason that it costs less 
to clean up and prepare for a crop. The timber, 
if at all within the reach of a mill, will much more 
than pay for the clearing and planting of a grove, 



20 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

while the cost of clearing Hammock lands will 
more than pay for fertilizer to bring a grove mto 
bearing. 

Agam orange trees on high pine land are not 
subject to "'Die Back" or foot rot. This disease is 
said to be caused by the tap root of the trees strik- 
ing the water or hard pan, which the}' are al- 
most certain to do in low lands. The soil, it soil 
it may be called, is nearly all pure sand — white on 
top — after removing the top, it is of a yellowish 
color, and the yellower the sand is the better the 
land is said to be. 

SCRUB PINE OR BLACK JACK LAND. 

This kind of land is partially covered with 
scrubby pines, a kind of dwarf oak called Black 
Jack, a few scraggy, little live oaks and kind of 
thorny, rough bramble. This kind of land in my 
judgement, is of such a nature that it never can be 
utiHzed for anything. The soil is white sand from 
top to bottom, and I guess the more a man owned 
the poorer he would be. 

LOW OR FLAT WOODS PINE LAND. 
This is called second class pine land. It has a 
good deal of pine timber on it, also Live Oak 
and sometimes a little Water Oak, not usually 
heavy timbered, and the timber is not of as good 
quality as that on the high pine land. It has 
much more white or sap wood than the other or 
high pine. It does not grow so large as the other 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 21 



and it is a rarity to see a curly pine on this kind of 
land. This has an undergrowth of scrub. (Hog) 
and saw Palmetto, sometimes of pretty dense 
growth and is hard to clear and grub and when it 
is prepared for cultivation is pretty good for veget- 
ables, grapes, guavas and strawberries. It is 
very poor land for oranges, or indeed any of the 
citrus family. It will do for pine apples and ban- 
anas. The soil is a blackish mold, (Irom decayed) 
vegetation,) for half an inch or so on top, then 
white sand for ten to fifteen or more inches, when 
you get to a kind of brownish quick sand that is 
usually from a few inches to several feet in thick- 
ness. Under this is a kind of a hard pan which 
seems to separate or divide the surface water from 
that below. This hard pan seems to be formed of 
very line, grayish sand, and is almost impervious 
to water and very hard and usually about a foot 
thick. To get water at all fit to drink, you must 
go below this stratum. 

Remember to raise crops on this land, you mus^ 
fertilize and that heavily and constantly. We may 
as well say it here as elsewhere that fertilizing is 
the key note to all the vegetables and fruits raised 
in Florida with perhaps one exception, and that is 
sweet potatoes and a little of it does not hurt them 
I)y any means. 

HAMMOCK LANDS. 
Are of two kinds, rolling or high and fiat or low 
Hammock. This word Hammock seems to be pe- 



22 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



culiar to Florida. The word originally meant a 
solid mass of turf, considerably elevated above the 
surrounding earth, then spelled Hommock, or 
Hummock, then the Indians called any little 
hillock, or small eminence of a rather conical form, 
whether covered with trees or not, a Hommock, 
but now the people of Florida call any piece of land 
whether high or low, that produces hard-wood 
trees, such as oak, hickory, ash, magnolia, &c.. 
Hammock lands and the original Hammock is now^ 
called reclaimed marsh land. This will enable the 
reader to fairly or properly understand what is 
meant by Hammock lands. All land on which 
hard wood predominate, w^hether high or low, are 
called Hammock land, and all lands on which pine 
predominates, are called pine lands. 

ROLLING OR GRAY HAMMOCK 
Land is usually covered with a heavy growth of 
timber, such as oak, hickory, magnolia and all the 
hard w^oods that grow in the State. The under- 
growth of palmetto, green briars, devils staff; (a 
kind of prickly ash) and other bramble is very hard 
to clear and get in shape for cultivation, and costs 
a great amount of outlay, but wdien once got into 
shape, produces well and with fertilizer can be 
made to produce immense crops of vegetables and 
strawberries. This is also the best of orancre land 
provided it is high enough above the w^ater level. 
FLAT HAMMOCKS 
Are much lower than the other kind, and have a 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 23 

much denser growth both timber, and undergrowth 
Ihan the former, consequent!}' are much harder to 
clear off and prepare for cultivation, but when 
brought under cultivation are among the best lands 
in the State, and if an}* land in the State will pro- 
duce crops without being fertilized, this kind of 
land will, and this produces much better by being- 
fertilized. On this land you can raise vegetables 
of all kinds that will grow here, provided the bugs, 
VARMINTS, and insects let them alone. In abun- 
dance you can also raise lemons, grapes, guavas, 
pine apples, bananas, and many other of the semi- 
tropical fruits and berries. 

Orange trees, as a general thing, do not do well 
on flat hammock, except where wild orange stocks 
are used, which can be, and are frequently budded 
with sweet orange buds and do well. 

The famous '-Bishop and Harris" Grove on 
Orange Lake in Levy County, was sta«rted in this 
way, than which there is none better in the State, 
but this is the exception rather than the rule. 

SWAMP LANDS. 

These are almost useless and are not susceptible 
.>f reclamation, being very low and thickly set with 
. cypress trees and other w^ater plants, vines and 
trees. There is thousands of acres in some of these 
swamps, into which the foot of man has never trod, 
i^md never will, or if he attempts it, the chances of 
his ever again getting out are all against him. En- 
ormous alligators, venemous snakes, reptiles. 



24 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

poisonous insects and dangerous wild animals are 
there. 

Many of these swamps are trackless, pathless — 
wilderness in every sense of the word, as for ex- 
ample the Big Cypress Swamp in Monroe county, 
which covers not less than seven hundred thous- 
and acres of territory in nearly a solid body. This, 
however is the largest cypress swamp in the State. 
There are, however, thousands of cypress and 
other swamps in the State that cover from one to 
ten thousand and more acres each, and many of 
them just as impenetrable as the B\^ Cypress 
Swamp. 

THE CYPRESS TREE 

Has some peculiarities that seem to entitle it to a 
particular description. It seems to stand alone 
among the trees, particularly in that. It is always 
found in clusters and very few, if any other trees 
will grow, or do grow where the cypress has once 
taken hold. Sometimes you will find a few cab- 
bage, palmettos and it may be a scraggy live oak 
in the edge of a cypress clump or swamp. The 
tree seems to belong to the fir or pine family in that 
its leaves or foliage is of that nature. It is neither 
a deciduous nor yet an evergreen, yet its foliage 
js green almost the entire year. It pushes out new 
foliage each year and the old one remains on until 
the new starts. So the tree presents the appear- 
ance of being clipped (so to say) once a year. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 25 

These trees all grow or have their roots in the 
water, and the peculiarity of their formation is that 
their roots or knees, as they are called here, are 
very much the larger part 01 them. The tap, or 
main root is said to be as far under the water as the 
top extends above it. The base of the tree for the first 
eight or ten feet after it leaves the water, is cone 
shaped, then it grows up straigjht and presents a 
beautiful appearance, having but few limbs or 
boughs and putting on a nice umbrella shaped top. 

These trees usually grow from fifty to a hun- 
dred feet in height. A cypress tree that is one 
foot in diameter, ten feet from the surface of the 
water, is perhaps from six to ten feet in diameter 
at the surface of the water. The roots or knees 
seem to widen out, locking and interlocking and 
overlapping each other, thus forming a complete 
net work of the biggest kind of stumps and roots, 
covering acres and acres, and in many cases miles 
and miles of territory. 

The trees may be cut ofl. They make good 
lumber, shingles and posts. The stumps and roots 
remain and as time seems to have no effect on them 
so far as decay is concerned, they still remain and 
become almost as hard as iron, hence the utter im- 
possibihty of utiHzing these swamps, even if they 
could be drained, which is, as a general thing 
about as impossible as to get rid of the stumps and 
roots, there being no place into which they can be 
drained* 



26 FLORID V AS IT IS. 



These swamps are well defined and are usually 
found in the pine regions. Hardly ever find a 
Cypress swamp and Hammock land adjoining. 
They do not seem to have any affinit}- for each 
other. 

A beautiful sight is a Cypress swamp. The 
green foliage of the trees all covered with gray 
moss, and it hanging from the limbs of the trees 
in long festoons, and they waving in the breeze 
and the sparkling water underneath, and the mos- 
quitos buzzing, the alligators bellowing, tae frogs 
croaking and the parokeets chattering. It is a 
sight and scene once seen and heard will never be 
forgotten. 

THE COUNTRY AT LARGE. 

The general appearance of the country is rather 
fiat It I"^ fl\t, and to the eyes of a Northern 
man or Northern people, presents rather a sorry 
and desolate appearance. (I now speak of the 
country away from the towns and cities), and 
about the first question that is asked is, "\yhat do 
you do or what can you raise here to make a liv- 
ing, and what have you to back up your country?" 
and about a hundred more of the same sort. 

We see no grass, no grain ol any kind gro win o-. 
The groves we pass seem to be set in nothing but 
pure sand, and that of the sandiest kind ; not even 
a stone or rock of any kind to vary the monotony. 
The road we are travelling on is nothing but sand 



n 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 27 



and that irom a few inches to a foot deep. 
The horses step in the loose sand every step to 
their pasterns, and the wheels of the carnage sink 
into the sand about as deeply as do the horses feet 
If you drive faster than the walk, the wheels carry 
the sand around and soon your clothes, shoes and 
the carriage are full of sand, and when you arrive 
at your journey's end and examine yourself, you 
will find that you are pretty well covered with sand 
yourself. About now you will begin to tind out 
that there is something besides sand in tlie soil, for 
instead of shaking and brushing it ot^', you will 
rind that it takes soap, water and labor, or rubbing 
to get the stuff off you, especially off your body. 
This substance, which is mixed with sand along 
with fertilizer and climate, makes the soil produc- 
tive. The soil on top looks very much alike in 
the pine lands — simply white sand on top for a few 
inches, then it becomes of a yellowish color, ex- 
cept in the scrub pine or black jack lands, where 
the sand is white, I reckon to the bottom. 

In the Hammocks, the sand is of a dark color on 
the top for several inches and sometimes for sever- 
al feet, then usually quick sand underneath except 
in the lower Hammocks, which are usually covered 
for several inches on top with vegetable mold. In 
some places this vegetable mold is several feet 
thick ; under this is sand. In all the low lands at 
a certain depth from the surface — some places 
deeper than others, is a kind of dividing line or 



28 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

hard pan that seems to divide the water. That 
above is brackish and not fit for use unless it be 
first boiled and strained, but when you penetrate 
or dig through this hard pan, and either pipe or 
curb out the wild or surface water, you obtain 
water that can be drank and used for cooking pur- 
pose and those persons who like it, say it is good 
and wholesome — to me it is warm and tasteless. 

The water business in more senses than one, is 
the worst drawback Florid? has to contend with. 
The soil i^s ot such a nature that brick or cemented 
cisterns in the ground are nearly an impossibility. 
The only remedy is to have large tanks made of 
Cypress wood and catch rain water, then if you 
are where ice can be had, vou can manage to get 
along, provided you can keep the wiggletails cut 
of your tank. 

THE EVERGLADES. 

There is a vast scope of country lying in the South- 
ern part of the State, principally in Monroe and 
Dade counties. It is a kind of marsh — the most of 
it is covered with water. It is a kind of net work 
of rivers la'^es and ponds, lagoons and bay heads 
where the ground rises above the water. It pro- 
duces the rankest kind of tropical and semi-tropi- 
cal vegetation, cane brakes and saw grass of im- 
mense growth are there, and were you to become 
lost in the brakes or entangled in the saw grass, 
you w^ould in all probability die right there. The 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 29 



most of Florida's cultivated truits grow there in a 
wild state. The Mango or Mangrove grov^'b v^ild 
and can be eat, though not very palatable. The 
land seems to be highest along the coast and some 
few people live down there and eke out an existence 
by hunting, fishing, trying to cultivate the cocoa- 
nut and tame the Mangrove. 

The Disston Land and Drainage Company are 
working on the JNorth end of the Glades and they 
think if they can succeed in draining Ocheechobee 
Lake and low^ering the water from six to ten feet 
that quite a large portion of the Everglades can be 
cultivated. This, no doubt would be the case, 
could the drainao;e be made. The bottoms of the 
lakes, rivers, ponds, &c., of the Glades are com- 
posed of decayed vegetable matter that has been 
accumulating for thousands of years, but in my 
judgment a company that should undertake to en- 
large the borders of the State of New Jersey by 
undertaking to drain the Atlantic Ocean, would be' 
about as successful as this company w^ill be in 
draining the Everglades of Florida. 

MARSH LAND. 

These are sometimes called swamp lands, but 
there is about the same difference between Cypress 
swamps and Marsh land as there is between the 
poorest Scrub Pine land and the richest Hammocks 
The Marshes are a kind of low^ prairie or shallow 
bay head, extending or running out from the lakes 



30 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



in the low country. They are partly covered with 
water during the greater part of the } ear and whol- 
ly covered in a v\ et time. The}' receive and retain 
all the wash from the higher lands, and there is 
always a rank growth of vegetable matter on and 
surrounding them, v\hich decays and thus enriches 
them. This growth and decay has been going on 
for ages, until now there is many feet deep of this 
deposited in them. 

This is the kind of land that first attracted the at- 
tention of the Disston Land and Drainage Com- 
pany. 

When these Marshes are drained and brought 
under cultivation, they are among the very best 
lands in the State, if not in the world for raising 
sugarcane and all kinds of veget?ibles, and it is 
said that Irish potatoes do very well if planted in 
January or Februar}' on these lands. Thousands 
and thousands of acres of these Marshes have been 
reclaimed within the last three years, on which 
there is now grooving sugar cane, cabbage and all 
kinds of vegetables that can be grow^n in this cli- 
mate. 

In some cases orange trees have been planted on 
land thus reclaimed, and so far they seem to grow 
and do well. How^ they will do w^hen the tap root 
reaches the w^ater level is yet to be seen. Any 
and all trees that have no tap root, such as lemon, 
guava, peach, &c., do well on reclaimed Marsh 
land. Bananas do first rate, but pine apples not so 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 31 



well as they require a sand}' soil. The beaut}' of 
these lands are that they, and they alone will pro- 
duce crops for an indefinite length of time without 
fertilizer, and indeed, this reclaimed Marsh land 
when hauled out and spread on pine land, acts as 
a fertilizer itself. As before stated, many thous- 
ands of acres of this kind of land have been re- 
claimed, and there is yet thousands of acres of the 
same l^ind of land m the State that can, and no 
doubt will be reclaimed in the near future. 

SEASOx\S A\D CLLMATE, 

Both are rather peculiar in this peninsula. The 
seasons, so to speak are only tw^o, winter and sum- 
mer. The winters are short, and in the South 
halt of Florida, snow has never been seen; no, not 
by the oldest inhabitant, and seldom any seveie 
frosts, but I do not know that I can give any de- 
scription that will nil the bill better than to quote 
frotn a letier receiitly published in the Hee^ly 
Times. 

*'Some ooe has said take the climate from Florida aud 
the State will be the very poorest of them all. That would 
be the exact truth except for one impossible fact If the 
{)reseat climate of Florida were taken away, it woidd of 
necessity have another climate, because no place on the 
globe can exist climateless. Therefore, to take away the 
climate of Florida would be the same as to- give it another 
{iliraate and that climate might be worse, or it might be 
better. To give to Florida the climate of Denmark, Mo- 
rocco or Mexico, would give it a worse one than we now 
have, but to give it the climate of South Japan, Hawaii c^r 
San Domingo would be a slight improvement upon tlie lia 
bilities to frosts from the cold waves of winter, but nf n- lor 



32 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

the balance of the year. 

Climate is as much, a part of any country as its soil, and 
until there shall be ai,...^,,.e chanoe of the ciimatical cou- 
diiions of the atmosphere, the climate peculiar to each 
region must remain as at present. Such changes have 
taken place during the first periods that have existed since 
the most ancient rocks were first formed and they may oc- 
cur again. Florida may become as it was. When tropi- 
cal heats produce the iinmense vegetable growths of the 
carbonaceous period or in later periods when the elephant, 
ihinocerous and tapir fed on the plains at the head of the 
Mississippi and the JNIastoden and Megatherium browsed 
the tropical herbage of Florida, so may Florida again have 
the climate that existed when the whole of the Northern 
States were covered with ice and snow a thousand feet deep 
a"-^' those regions had glaciers and climate conditions now 
presented in the Northern Greenland. 

The man who buys a farm in Florida, buys the climate 
as well as the soil and the plants upon it ; the atmosphere 
above the mineral below the surface become his The acres 
of climate corresponds to the acres of the surface. Florida 
without its c'imate would not be Florida. It would be 
shorn of its best qualities or would be improved, who can 
tell which. 

1 his matter of the climate of Florida should never be 
lost sight of in considering questions pertaining to the 
health^uluess and capabilities of the State, especially 
should the person who plants a crop raise an animal, writes, 
talks about or gives advice concerning agricultural s-ubjects, 
bear constantly in mind that Florida has a climate, "Sui 
Generis" (particularl} to its own) that must remain with all 
the equability consistent with the geographical situation. 
It must not be lost sight of for a moment that each Decem- 
ber and January a frost more or less severe will occur Id 
all the Northern halt of the State That between the sum- 
mer solstice and the f>utumual Equinox, is the season of 
greatest rains, cooli.ig showers and greatest humidity of 
the atmosphere and the peri( d of greatest vegetable growth ; 
that May and early June is tue s ason of greatest aridity- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. ^^ 

(dryness) and the hottest midday sunshine and that the 
balance of the year has a fair proportJ^^^^ of raiut'all for the 
successful growth of those plants, . ..^ted to their locations 
and seasons. Ft also rn ist not be forgotten that climate 
will not yield theories however plausible, but theories to be 
of auy value, must conform to climate and practice must 
be goverened accordingly. The guiding star climate must 
always be in sight and always kept in view if the agricul- 
turist would march in the way of success. 

How to grow and care for an orange grove or orchard in 
California, Spain or Italy, where irrigation is an absolute 
necessity, can be of little value to men in Florida where 
climatic conditions are varient (different,) the same remark 
may also be applicable to the cultivation, gathering and 
handling of fruits and vegetables for the markets. If Hie 
climate of some other region requires lemons to be gathc "■'" 
ed wnen they can be passed through an iron ring of a giveii' 
size that is not a reason why the lemons of Florida, thai 
will grow to nearly twice the size without deteriorating, 
should be passed through the same rmg, so too, a descrip- 
tion of how to grow an orange orchard or handle the fruit 
in Porti Rica or Jamacia, would, to the common reader be 
equally uninstructive unless the climatic differences between 
those places and Florida were also kept in view. Climate 
is the keynote with which the whole must accord, or there 
Avill be discords innumerable. 

Florida has its own climate which must remain as per- 
manent as earth itself. It cannot be taken away, and 
people must conform to it, or failure will certainly ensue.'' 

Much, if not all of the above letter is true in a 
general sense, but inuch more may, and can be 
said about the seasons and climate of Florida. 

llie thermometer seldom ranges below 30 de- 
grees above zero. In January 1886, it however 
got below twent)'. This is said to have been the 
hardest freeze that ever occm-red since 1835, ^vhen 
it was about as cold. Tlie last freeze destroved 



34 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



all thefruiis of Florida, except the oranges and it 
hurt them. All the citrus trees were frozen to the 
ground, (roots not killed) except the orange treesy 
many of which were not hurt at all, while many 
Cithers lost their foli^^ge and some in exposed places 
were frozen to the ground Thi^-, however, seems 
to be an exception as this kind of weather ver}- 
seldom occurs. As a general thing in the winter 
season the thermometer ranges from about thirty 
to seventy above zero, and in summer Irom about 
sixty-live to ninety-five above zero. Sometimes, 
howevt^r, the mercury clinbs up to one himdrecl 
and even above that. About this time the weather 
is pretty hot, but w hiie the da^^s are hot, nights 
comparaiivcly cool, tliere being usuaUy a breeze 
that mak« s it pleasant, but sometimes t'.is breeze 
fails to come, or you may be so placed that 3'ou 
cannot get the advantage of it. At such times if 
you were here you wotild think the nights pretty 
warm also. There is not much cloudy wrather. 
Rains come in showers and are f f short duration, 
then sunshine. A day in Florida that the sun does 
not shine brightly some part of tlie day, w^ould be an 
Qj anomaly. Fogs are almost unknown ; the air 
seems to be pure and very dry — indeed very dry, 
when w^e consider the amount of water with which 
we are surrounded. 

The climate in the winter about compares with 
the climate of New A^ork and Pennsylvania in 
November and April, leaving out the cold rains. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 35 



The winter season.s here, are as a UMial thing, rath- 
er dry ; that is there is not much rainfall. Oc- 
casionally a v\et spell about the latter part of 
March or in early April, then usually very dry un- 
til late in June, when the rainy season sets in, 
which usually lasts about three months, during 
which time scarcely a day passes without one or 
more showers of rain, and some of these are 
very heavy, and usually accompanied with thun- 
der and lightning, and oh I such vivid and bright 
lightning. When these show ers occur at night, as 
they frequently do, it seems sometimes as if the 
whole heavens w^as lighted up with continuous 
streams of liquid lire, and the thunder so loud and 
sharp the ground seems to tremble and shake, and 
it actually does. It is grand and sublime to see 
the lightning and hear the thunder, but it is rather 
unpleasant to have it so near you. What are call- 
ed settled rains never occur here, though sometimes 
it will rain right along for as much as a half a day 
at a time and v\ hen it rains there is no drizzle to it, 
but a genuine pour down and done wath it. Should 
one of these big rains occur, then look out for high 
waters. 

Low lands are converted into lakes and ponds in 
the shortest possible space of time, and if you 
chance to be in some of the flat portions of the 
State, (and the greater part is flat) you will be- 
gin to think that Florida is nearly all lakes, ponds 
and sw^amps, sure enough, but on the contrary 



36 FLORI DA AS IT IS. 

should you visit Florida in a dry time, you certain- 
ly would think they have a good deal of dry land 
there, and so we have a good part of the year, 
however some, and a large sum too, that is dry in 
some parts of the year, in other parts ol the same 
year are several feet under water. This kind of 
land is not of much account for anything but pas- 
ture for stock and not worth much for that, simply 
because not much of anything but bramble grows 
on it. 

Florida is a very pleasant State to live in during 
the winter season provided you have plenty of 
money to enable you to secure good and comfort- 
able quarters or to build you a place to suit your- 
self. With all the necessaries, luxuries and deli- 
cacies of liie can be procured here at all times. 
(What are not grown and raised here are shipped 
here from the I^'orth and other places,) but some- 
times, and nearly always, the prices are enormous- 
ly high and the very many tropical fruits and 
berries that you expect to see £^rowing here in 
abundance, you will be rather surprised to find 
that many of them are brought here from foreign 
parts and a great many things that are grown here 
that you had expected to find common and low in 
price, when you discover the facts you will find 
that many of these things had to have great care 
and nursing to bring them to even partial perfec- 
tion, and the price asked will be more than the 
same fruits, vegetables and berries could be bought 



FLORIDA AS IT IS 



for in Norihern markets, even at the same time of 
the year. Almost all the substantial food we eat 
in Florida, is shipped here from the North — flour, 
butter, bacon, Irish potatoes, apples, corn meal, 
&c. To feed our horses we use hay from the 
North, even from JNevv England. Oats and corn 
are all shipped here, and we have even to ship our 
chicken feed. 

True we raise oranges, lemons, limes, grape 
fruit, grapes, sweet potatoes, water meloiis, cante- 
lopes, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, mulberries and 
vStrawberries. Oh yes ! we fairly bask in straw- 
berries and cream. The cheapest strawberries I 
saw in Florida, were twenty-five cents a box, 
(about a pint,) and small at that, from the holi- 
days to about [the first of April, they usually sell 
at about one dollar a box. Cheap, is nol it so? 
You see that persons with plenty of money can in- 
dulge in strawberries and cream, when the}' can 
get the cream. It costs forty cents a quart ; blue 
milk from fifteen to twenty cents a quart, depends 
a little on how badly you want it. For people 
that do not have a great deal of filthy lucre, straw- 
berries and cream is no good in Florida. 

Now take snap beans. These grow well here 
and are plenty in the month of April, and sell right 
along at about one dollar a peck, About this time 
the Irish potatoes that grow in Florida come into 
market at about the same price as beans. Onions 
by the bunch, (about half a dozen little ones in a 



38 FLORID A AS IT IS. 

bunch) sell at from fifteen to twenty cents a bunch. 
Red beets are verv hard to o-row here, and sell 
very high. Lettuce, cabbage and all other garden 
trucks sell at about the proportion of the above 
figures. About the first of June green corn, water- 
melons and tomatoes come into market and sell 
about as follows : very small corn per dozen, 
twenty to fifty cents ; until watermelons come be- 
come plenty, they bring a dollar a piece — they get 
cheaper about July first. Tomatoes sell for a dol- 
lar a peck, and not very good even at that price. 
The only things that are really cheap are turnips 
and sweet potatoes, and these sell all the time 
from forty to ninety cents a bushel. So it is pretty 
plain to be seen that unless a ou raise these things 
yourself or have plenty o{ money, you might as 
well be anywhere else as in Florida, so far as en- 
joying the eating of them is concerned. Notwith- 
standing all this, the climate of Florida in winter as 
compared with the Northern States, is delightful. 
In the summer I prefer being in a climate that the 
heat is not quite so great, and I have a very strong 
impression that should the readers ever spend a 
summer in Florida, they will agree Avith me long 
before the summer is ended. 

SOMETHING ABOUT ORANGES, ETC. 

There are several varieties of oranges. They 
ripen from October to February, according as they 
are early or late varieties. They are not easily 
shaken from the tree and aiter being matured and 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



39 



fully ripe, they stick so tighily to their lastenings 
that the branches to which they grow are frequent- 
ly broken off in attempting to pull them. When, or 
in gatheriijg the oranges, the gatherer fastens a 
sack or basket, made for the purpose, in front of 
him with straps o» strings passriiig around his 
shoulders, and with a pair of snips (scissors) or a 
knife witli a hooked blade, thus equipped he 
mounts a step ladder after placing it in proper po- 
sition about the tree and gathers the golden truit, 
depo^iting each orange in the receptacle separate- 
lyv This gathering of oranges is a kind of a trade 
and an expert will thus gather many thousands in 
a single day, w^hen many another who does not 
understand the business w^ill not be able to gather 
as man}^ hundred in the same length of time. Pro- 
fessional orange gatherers work or gather by the 
hundred and some of them do nothing else. They 
make (earn) enough money during the gathering 
s^easons to keep them the balance oi the year. Oc- 
casionally you will see two crops on the same tree, 
(ripe and green) and very frequently you will see 
the tree bloom out for a new crop and have plenty 
of ripe fruit on at the same time, yet they produce 
but one full crop a year and not as many suppose 
Ihat the tree is an everbearer, that is that they are 
producing fruit all the time. I never saw an 
orange tree that was an everbearer and the reason 
}ou occasionally hear as above written, is because 
of the tenacity with which the Aar't sticks to cr ad- 



40 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

heres to the tree and not having been gathered* 
If, however, the tree or fruit is unsound, the fruit 
loses this tenacity and falls to the ground, hence 
} ou never see an orange grower eat an orange that 
has not been cut or taken directly from the tree ; 
notwithstanding some unscrupulous persons will 
ship uind falls, that is oranges that have dropped 
from the trees, from being diseased in some w^a}'. 
These oranges can always be told in this wa\^ and in 
no other. The absence of a small part ot the stem 
on which the orange grew, is very suspicious- All 
rirst-class oranges have this smal\ part of the stem 
firml}^ attached and it is almost impossible to get it 
ofl^ without injuring the rind or sktn of it. 

The orange trees as well as all the citrus famil}-, 
is an evergreen, that is it is always full of green 
leaves. Should the foliage become destroyed, as 
is the case sometimes by frost, worms, or insects, 
it will soon put out a new folias^e. The tree is all 
the time (very slowly) casting off" the old and mak- 
ing new wood and foliage, yet you scarcely ever 
see an orange leaf under the trees. 

AN ORANGE ORCHARD. 
An orange 'grove is planted something after the 
style of an apple orchard (in the North) and by 
planting three year old budded trees that have had 
proper care and by planting properly and giving 
them all the attendance necessary and fertilizing 
them all they will take ; if on the right kind of soiL- 
you may expect, and will get a few^ oranges the 



FLORIDA AS ITIS. 41 

third or fourth year after planting. Your orange 
grove must be cared for just like a garden, and 
the more you work, manure or fertilize it, the bet- 
ter it will do, and if you fail to give it proper at- 
tention, it will show it very qaickl3^ About the 
seventh or eighth year after planting, if it has had 
the proper kind of attention, it wall begin to pay 
you, that is you v\ill begin to get fruit and when it 
once begins to make returns, (the older the grove 
gets the more it will returii) provided you always 
keep fertilizing and giving it proper attention. You 
might just as well fatten an animal and after he is 
fat, expect him to remain so without feed or atten- 
tion as to plant an orange grove and bring it into 
bearing and then expect it to copxtinue bearing" 
without giving it the same attention that you did 
to bring it into that condition. In this respect 
orange trees are very sensative and are more like 
corn or vegetables; they show^ neglect or good 
oare almost immediately* The man or person who 
expects to get an orange grove by simply planting 
the trees and then let them ta'^e care of themselves 
wdl only reap vexation and disappointment. You 
might just as well plant corn in a clover held with- 
out ploughing, and then expect a crop of corn with- 
out any further attention, the one would be just 
about as likelv to succeed as the other. Work, at- 
lintion and fertilizing are the three main points in 
making an orange grove. 

From wliat I have seen, know and learned 



42 



FLORIDA AS 1 1' IS. 



n 



about this orange business, in my judgement there 
are ver\- few orange groves in the State that have 
ever paid the cost of bringing into bt^aring and 
keeping up. Do not undtTsiand that all who have 
planted groves have lost money — very far from it. 
On the contrary, nearly every pt rson that has 
planted groves and given them any kind of care 
or attention at all, have made money by the oper- 
ation of planting and starting groves, and also 
made money by bringing them into bearing, not 
in the fruit however. It is done about in this way t 
Purchase five acres of land within a mile or two of 
a smart town for fifty dollars per acre* have it 
cleared and fenced, (or do it yourself) and planted 
for sav one hundred dollars per acre more ; be 
careful to have nice thriving trees; have them set 
out in June, about the be<^inning of the rainy ^:eas- 
on ; have the ground in prime condition ; all tjie 
trees, stumps and roots taken out, and make it look 
like a garden ; trees start to grovv at once, being 
aided by the wet weather and some powerful fertil- 
izer ; watch and attend to them carefully, keeping 
off all sprouts and suckers ; watch the orange dog, 
a kind of worm something like the worm that gets 
on seed parsnips in the North — they destroy the 
foliage ; also keep off the ants and all other insects 
that infest orange trees ; wash the trees occasional- 
Iv with whale-oil soap, and don't forget your fer- 
tilizer, and by the first of November you will have 
a new <^rowth of wood from three to five feet, and 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 43 



the trees will look beautiful. Now this whole bus- 
iness up to this time will not have cost over two 
hundred dollars per acre, including your own work 
and all expenses. Some man from the North or 
elsewhere, comes alonp- with more dollars than 



fc> 



knowledtre and he wants an orano-e o-rove, vou 
ask him a thousand dollars per acre or five thous- 
and dollars for the w^hole tract ; you show^ him the 
big growth. He wants to know how old these 
trees are, when they were planted, now much at- 
tention and how^ much fertilizer you have used. 
Of course you tell him all about it, making as 
much out of the grow^th as you can and enlarging 
on the very short time in which they put on the 
this very heavy growth ; keep the fertilizer and the 
attention paid to the trees as much in the bac'^- 
ground as possible ; you will show^up all the good 
qualities of your country, or your place in partic- 
ular ; do not however seem to want to sell, but 
show by figures and calculations what your grove 
will produce, (no probabilities about this) as soon 
as it comes into bearing ; you can easily figure up 
that in six or eight years your grove will produce 
the interest on from ei^^ht to ten thousand dollars 
per acre and maybe you can get him to believe it. 
Whether you do or not, he does not know how^ 
much truth you have told him, and he w^ill not be 
likely to find out very soon unless he should hap- 
pen to buy and come to Florida to live. However, 
ii you have played your part well, you have him 



44 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

fascinated by this time, for this orange business is 
fascinating to a stranger ; he will very probably 
make you an offer for your grove of perhaps one 
halfoi what you asked him; 3'ou of course could 
not think for a moment of taking any such offer, 
but before the matter is settled you have sold your 
grove for seven hundred and fifty dollars per acre 
acre and have thus made over two thousand dollars 
clear money, and he has the. grove. This is not 
a bad speculation for you, but unless he stays right 
there and attends to his grove just as well as you 
did, he cannot help but lose money. I know of a 
case just exactly like this and know the parties, 
but suppose you do not sell the first fall or winter, 
there is such a thing as dv^^arfing and pushing an 
orange tree, that it will bear a few oranges the sec- 
ond year from the bud. You are likely to have a 
few of thesekind of trees, and if so, you will be 
sure to call particular attention to them and they 
do look nice, and almost certain to attract and fas- 
cinate, and many times you make money by not 
selling the first year, but then it is generally all 
the worse for the end man. You certainly have 
made money by planting an orange grove. The 
man that now owns it, has his to make yet. My 
Judgement is that there is more money made out 
of orange £jroves before they come into bearing than 
there is afterward. I mean clear money. There 
are many, very many things about this orange 
business that the uninitiated know^ but little about. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 45 



^owever, with all the tricks thrown in, some of 
the tinest oranges raised in the world are grown in 
Florida, and it is a nice business and many honor- 
able men and women are engaged in the business 
of growing oranges and orange trees in Florida, 
and many of them are doing well, while others, 
and many of them are ready and willing to sell out 
as soon as the right man puts in his appearance. 
You can always bu}^ orange groves. 
LEMONS AND LIMES 
Are not, as a general thing planted in groves, but 
in odd corners and sometimes between the rows 
of orange trees. They are more of a bush than a 
tree and come into bearing in two or three years 
from budding. Florida produces lemons and limes 
of a good quality, but not of the best. These trees 
or bushes are very tender and a frost of any se- 
verity at all, ruins the fruit lor that year, hence 
the fruit growers do not cultivate them to any great 
extent. There is, however a large, rough, thick 
skinned lemon that stands about as much freezincr 
as an orange tree. They are not of a very good 
quality and not much accounted of. 

CITRON TREES OR BUSHES, 
This fruit is more of a novelty than anything 
else. It is a large fruit and somewhat bell shaped, 
some of them weighing as much as ten pounds. 
Whether it is the citron of commerce or not, I have 
not been able to learn, nor have I been able to 
earn of anv person making any use of them 



46 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

whatever. The trees or bushes are rather small, 
something like a lemon tree. The branches are 
very tough and elastic, and the weight of the fruit 
bends the boughs until the fruit-touches the ground. 
GRAPE FRUIT.(6/ja:c>/^^c./s;/ 

This seems to be a kind of an orange. It grows 
on a tree that looks like an orange tree, and unless 
you saw the fruit, you would say the tree was an 
orange tree. The fruit is very full of juice and is 
used in various ways, as lemons for drink and mak- 
ing PIES. Jelly is also made of grape fruit, and 
by many persons it is eaten the same as an orange. 
It is not so sour as a lemon, but much more so than 
a good orange. In size it is very much larger than 
the largest orange ; one or two grape fruit trees is 
all any person wants on his place. They ripen 
and stick on the trees about like an orange. They 
are not often shipped JNorth for the reason that 
there is not much money made by handling them. 
The tree grows as large, if not larger than an 
orange tree aud bears heavily every year, if kept 
in good condition. 

GUAVA. 

The tree is of a bush character and grows some- 
thing like a quince does when left alone (in the 
North.) It does not grow tall, but branches out 
from the ground. I have seen them from 
twelve to fifteen feet in diameter through the 
branches, six or eight feet from the ground, and 
not more than ten or twelve feet hig-h. These 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 47 

bushes are not hard to propagate and when once 
started, need but very little care and they bear an 
abundant crop every year (when not frozen.) The 
fruit is about the size of a small lemon, and shaped 
a little like a mandrake or May apple and is very 
full of seeds, something like tomato seeds, only 
larger. The fruit is used for a great many pur- 
poses, and a great many persons like them to eat 
right off the bush and nearly every person becomes 
very fond of them after they once get the taste prop- 
erly. They are used for jellies and jams, for which 
they are excellent, as the jellies and jams can be 
flavored to taste. They make excellent pies and 
not a bad desert in the absence of something bet- 
ter. The bushes bear the second or third year 
from planting. 

PINE APPLES, 
These are rather hard to raise, being a tropical 
fruit they cannot stand frost, hence must be pro- 
tected in w^inter. A good many are raised, how^- 
ever, in the southern part of Florida. Under pro- 
tection they mature from the planting in about 
twenty-one months. The ground is prepared as 
for cabbage ; the plants are set in rows about two 
feet apart, and the rows are about the same dis- 
tance apart ; they must be carefully cultivated and 
tertilized, and no grass or weeds allowed to grow 
among them ; cultivated like cabbage. Alter a 
proper time a kind of spike shoots up from the 
centre of the plant, something like a poppy head 



48 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



or tulip flower, with a bulb on top : this bulb is tht? 
pine apple, which grows and enlarges and finally 
ripens. Each plant produces but one apple then 
dies, but while it is bearing this apple it is at the 
same time lattooning or throwing out several other 
plants from the old root, which in turn, each bears 
an apple. So you see a pine apple bed is self- 
propagatirjg, and once planted is there indelini"tely 
If proper care is taken of them, all you have to do 
is to see that it does not become too thickly set 
with btalks, in which case the fruit would be small. 
After the ]3ed or orchard is properly started and 
cared for and w^ell protected in winter, 3'ou can* 
and will have ripe fruit the whole year around, as 
there seems to be no special season of the year in 
which they ripen, so that after a very few years, 
you will have pine apples all the time in all stages^ 
ot growth and oi all sizes. The pine apple stock 
is very rough, and in working among them the 
hands, arms and legs must be protected with leath- 
er, in order to keep your skin and flesh from being 
torn and lacerated. Plants are obtained from the 
roots and also from small suckers that shoot out 
from the base of the apple. If the top of the apple 
be cut otf and planted, it will also grow and in due 
course of time produce another apple. 
BANANAS, 
This is also a tropical fruit and plant but partiaL 
ly acclimated to Florida, and when planted in 
places not too much exposed, fruits tolerably welL 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 49 

The least bit ot" a freeze stops the fruiting. It 
is grown for ornament in nearly all gardens ana 
lots in the State, particularly in the southern part. 
It grows to the height of twenty or more feet in 
good soil. Its loliage or leaves are from two to 
■six feet long and when flattened out will measrue as 
much as two feet in width : the leaves have a rib 
or stem running through the middle the long way 
of the leaf, thus it appears to be double, drooping 
from the stem. When the stock is ready to fruit, 
it sends up a strong stem from the centre of the 
stock, after the nature of the pine apple. This 
stem is from one to three inches in diameter ; on 
the outer or extreme end of this stem or spike is 
wiiat is called the blow: this is in shape a good 
deal like an ear of corn and about the size, the 
layers answering to the husk on corn ; it is red and 
when this biow opens, as it always does, is very 
beautiful ; when the blow begins to open then the 
butt or lower end of this spike begins to, and does 
throw out segments partially around it, which 
seems to divide, each pushing out a small yellow 
flower ; this is the blossom Each blossom is the 
end of the Iruit, which growa very much like a 
cucumber, in that the blossom is on the end of the 
fruit. In a .short time <^nother of these sequents 
forms and the process is repeated again and agam 
until from a dozen to three hundred bananas are 
formed on this stem or spike. When the blow flrsL 
makes its appearance, its weight curves the stem 



so FLORIDA AS IT IS 



and by the time the truit is well formed the top of 
the bunch is toward the ground, A stock only 
bears one bunch and then dies, but like the pine 
apple, is self-propagating, sending out rattoons or 
suckers from the roots, which in turn produce fiuit. 
The stock has the nature of corn, being very 
porous, but not jointed, and are sometimes as much 
as eight inches in diameter within a foot of the 
ground. T hey will grow in almost any kind of 
soil, but do much the best in low lands. They 
will grow without fertilizer, but will do better with 
it. They propagate in Florida entirely from the 
roots ; they will not mature seed outside ot a purely 
tropical climate ; there are several varieties of them 
some of which are much better than others ; very 
few, if anv bananas are shipped from Fl rida ; 
about all that grow here are consumed in the 
State. 

GRAPES. 

The are several varieties of natural grapes, none 
of which amount to much except the '^Scupper- 
nong," which is a very fair grape, especially when 
no better is to be had. There are several varie- 
ties of grapes growing wild in the Hammocks that 
are something like the fox grapes of the North, 
only smaller. Grapes other than the scuppernong 
do not seem to do much good in this climate. 

PEACHES. 
There are two kinds of peaches that can be 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 51 

raised in Florida. The Peen-to or Pinto is a small 
flat, fair peach ; it does lairly here and ripens in 
early June. The honey peach is small and yellow- 
ish ; it is very sweet ?nd ripens a little later. The 
kind and varieties of peaches that grow in the 
North, do not seem to grow here- There is, how- 
ever, a new peach called the Bidwell, about which, 
just now a big blow is being made. I have not 
seen any of these peaches, but if one-half that is 
said about them be true, they will revolutionize the 
fruit growing business in this State. They are 
said to even ripen earlier than the Peen-to, and it 
is further said that they are worth in the New York 
market about twenty-seven dollars a bushel. The 
reader must bear in mmd that we do not vouch for 
this Bidwell peach, but simply write what is said 
about them by those who are interested in the sale 
if the Bidwell peach trees and what is published 
on the papers by those otherwise interested in this 
variety of peach. One thing is pretty certain, and 
that is that time will test this peach as well as many 
other things in Florida. 

PEARS. 
The Leconte is the only pear that can be raised 
in Florida. This grows something like the seckel 
pear of the North and somewhat larger ; it has a 
fine flavor, (rather too sweet.) The trees are 
propagated from cuttings. 

PLUMS. 
It is said that plums grow wild in some parts of 



52 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



the State. I have seen the so-called Persian plum 
which grow on a tree something like the horse 
chestnut tree. The fruit is about the size of a 
green gage and is much relished by some people. 
There is to me very Itttle, if any plnm taste about 
them. 

PERSIMMONS. 
There are two varieties here. The common per- 
simmon of the North flourishes here and produces 
abundant crops, but are of very little use. The 
other variety has been brought here from Japan ; 
when ripe, is rather a fancy fruit, and is relish- 
ed by everbody. The fruit is yellow when ripe, 
and is usually about three inches lon^ and about one 
inch in diameter, having but few seeds, "and they 
are verj^ small. The fruit is very slightly astring- 
ent, even when very ripe, not enough so, however 
to make it objection al. The trees are propagated 
by budding into wild persimmon stocks and from 
seed ; the trees raised from seed must be grafted 
or budded to insure ^ood fruit. Shaddocks have 
been described under the name of grape fruit, as 
both names mean about the same fruit. A further 
description would be superfluous. 

POMEGRANATES 
Are grown in some places ; they are like the 
citron, more ornamental than useful ; the tree or rath- 
er bush is very beautiful, and the fruit in shape re- 
sembles a half grown quince in appearance and 
size, the colors however are reddish. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 53 

BKRRIES. ~^ 

Strawberries are the principal, and in tact about 
the only cultivated berry in Florida. They need 
no particular description as every person knows all 
about strawberries. I may say that by proper cul- 
tivation and planting at the right season, these 
berries may be had or the crop continued irom the 
holidays until about the first of July. The princi- 
pal crop, however, is made during March and 
April. In order to obtain berries as early or late 
as the holidays, the plants must be set out in June 
or early in July. Planting them at this time of the 
year, they require the greatest kind of care, mul- 
cing and protection from the hot sun, and by keep- 
ing away from them all grass and weeds and using 
the proper fertilizer, you may succeed in gettmg 
some berries, provided the frost don't kill them. 
You will not get much of a crop, but what you do 
get will be worth Irom two to five dollars a box in 
New York — no not worth that amount, but will 
bring that prtce. If only a few quarts are thus 
raised, and they are, it answers first-rate for an ad- 
vertisement of what can be done in the State, and 
will find big accounts of strawberries raised in the 
open air in Florida. These accounts never give 
the " modus operandi " of raising the berries To 
make a success of raising strawberries in Florida, 
they must be planted in September or October, the 
ground being first well prepared and fertilized, 
then if properly attended, you can expect, and will 



54 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

get a fair crop of berries the following March and 
April. Sometimes you can begin to pick ripe 
strawberries in February and from the same plants 
get a few berries as late as July. The berries do 
not ripen all at once as they do in the North, but 
continue ripening all along throughout the season, 
of say three or four months, or even longer from 
the time the first berries come until the last are 
done. These old plants produce but very few 
berries the second year, so of necessity you must 
plant new beds each year or reset the old ones. 
The price of strawberries here is about the same as 
it is in the New York market all the time, so you 
must either raise your berries, have plenty of 
money, or do without, just as it happens, 

HUCKLE AND BLACKBERRIES 

Of an inferior quality grow wild in Hammocks 
and low lands, and in season are peddled around 
as they are in the North. They bring from ten to 
twenty-five cents a quart, depends a little on how 
badly you want them. 

CURRANTS, RASPBERRIES, GOOSJi- 

BERRIES, ELDERBERRIES AND 

CHERRIES. 

I have seen none ol these, nor have I seen any 
person that did see them, notwithstanding, it is 
said some of each grow in the State, and I know 
no reason why they should not grow here at least 
as well as strawberries. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 55 



MULBERRIES 

Grow wild in the Hammocks, and they seem to 
be of the same variety as the Northern. There is 
also a tame or cultivated mulberry that is very 
large and ripens in April.' They, however, are 
not very valuable as they are rather soft and taste- 
less» 

VEGETABLE AND TUBERS. 

Cucumbers and sweet potatoes are perfectly at 
home in Florida ; about all that is to be done to get 
a crop of either, is to prepare the ground and plant 
the seed. You can either plant the whole sw^eet 
potato or the draws (plants) or pieces of the sweet 
potato vine, and with very little cultivation you will 
get a fair crop — better cultivation will produce a 
better crop. Cucumbers do the best when planted 
in February or March. If planted much later the 
hot sun interferes with their maturing. Sweet 
potatoes should be planted the latter part of May 
or early in June to make the best crop, however, 
the can be planted at almost any other time of the 
year, and generally do w^ell ; the crop may remain 
in the ground for a long time without injury. This, 
however, is a lazy -way of keeping them. The 
right way is to dig them, take them out of the 
ground and bank them, (put them in pits) as they 
do Irish potatoes in the North. Many people dig 
them and put them on piles, cover lightly with 
sand, then cover all with palmetto bu^hes or moss. 
As a general thing enough of seed is left in the 



56 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



ground to produce a crop the next season, and 
frequently the second crop is almost as good 
the tirst, without much, if any additional 
labor. 

WATER AND MUSH MELONS. 
These can be, and are raised here by the million. 
They, however, must have a good deal of atten- 
tion and the ground must be well fertilized and the 
seed planted at the proper time, which is in Feb- 
ruary and never later than March for general crop. 
Start the plants with plenty of good fertilizer^ 
watch the cut worms, (they do have cut worms in 
Florida) and insects, keep your plants and vines 
growing vigorously, one hill to each — ten feet 
square is plenty thick enough, and if you have 
more than three stocks in a hill, it i.« too thick. 
Mush melons may be planted a little closer- All 
thinjjs being favorable, the melons produced in 
Florida cannot be surpassed in the known world. 

IRISH POTATOES, 

The Irish potatoes that are raised in Florida, 
cannot be classed as first quality by any means,, 
although there are some fair pcTtatoes raised here. 
When planted at the proper time, and January, by 
my observation, is the right time. As a general 
thing Irish potatoes that are raised here have a 
watery nature and many of them are black inside. 
The whole of it is, raising Irish potatoes in Florida 
is not a success, and I do not think ever will be. 



n 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 57 

CABBAGE. ^ 

Cabbage on certain kinds of soil, grows very 
well, as (or instance on reclaimed marsh land or 
low hammock, provided you can keep the cutworms 
insects, and cabbage worms off. I have seen no 
very large heads of cabbage grown in Florida, but 
have heard ot them. I have however seen hun- 
dreds that were called fine cabbage ; if the heads 
being small and solid made it fine, then the saying 
is true. As a general thing the heads weigh from 
one to four pounds, although I have .seen others 
that weighed five and six pounds. 

ONIONS. 

Onions are not a success, still on good land, with 
care and plenty of fertilizer and planting wide 
apart fair onions can be raised here. 

TURNIPS, 

Turnips of all kinds grow pretty well. Fertil- 
izer helps them wonderfully. 

RED BEETS. 
Red beets for some cause not known to the 
writer, does not grow here except in special local- 
ities, and in no locality do they amount to much, 
SQJJASHES AND PUMPKINS. 
As a general crop are a partial success. Egg 
plants in certain localitie^^, with care and plenty of 
fertili;zer, make a fair crop. 

TOMATOES. 
As a general crop whh ordinary care and a lit- 



58 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



tie fertilizer, make a good crop, especially the' 
small round cluster tomato. To be a success, they 
should be planted very early in the season, say 
the last of December or rirst of January. Be sure 
to protect when there is danger ol frost. 
CORN. 
This can be raised on cow penned land or with 
plenty of fertilizer. February is the time to plant, 
and you will then have mutton corn (roasting ears) 
in early June. A crop of corn yielding, say twenty 
bushels to the acre^ is considered a pretty good 
crop for Florida. Not much is raised except for 

table use. 

COTTON, 

In the Northern part of the ^tate considerable 
cotton is raised, both Sea Island and Short Staple^ 
and does very well. 

WHEAT AND RYE. 

Rye and wheat will not mature here. There h 
some of both sowed, epecially rye for pasture. 
OATS. 

A very good crop can be made with plenty of 
fertilizer in the Northern part of the State. 
BEANS. 

Beans when properly planted, cultivated and 
fertilized, make an excellent crop, especially w^ax. 
and snap varieties. Many thousands of bushels of 
beans are raised in Florida every year and shipped 
to the Northern markets. Beans are one of the 
staple crops of the State. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 59 



COW PEAS. 

These are a kind of a small bean generally sown 
broadcast on new land. As a first crop, it is said 
they sweeten the land, that is takes out the wild- 
ness, and mal^s land productive. These cow 
peas are frequently plowed down, thus acting as a 
fertilizer, other times they are left stand until about 
half ripe, then cut and cured like hay. In this shape 
they are excellent food for stock, they do not 
seem to impoverish the land, but rather to enrich 
it. These cow peas are very rough food for man. 

HOSS (HORSE) BEANS. 
These are grown for ornament and shade. They 
are climbers. I have seen them climb a pine tree 
for forty feet ; their foliage is very dense, and the 
bean pods are as much as a foot long, having usual- 
ly twelve ^arge beans in each pod. I know of no 
use for the beans. 

HOPS. 

These are not grown in Florida to my knowl- 
edge. 

ASPARAGUS. 

Have neither saw any or heard of any in the 
State. 

HORSE RADDISH. 

The same as Asparagus. 

RADDISHES. 
These grow quickh^ when fertilizer is used, but 
get spongy very soon . 



6o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



TOBACCO. 

It is said tobacco will gr3\v well in places, but I 
have neither seen the places or the tobacco grow- 
ing. 

CASAVA. 

Casava is said to be a sure anU profitable crop. 
This is the root out of which tapioc? is made. I 
have heard of it, but know of none growing in the 
State. 

PEA NUTS, PINDARS OR GOUBERS. 

These grow well and yield abundantly if proper- 
Iv planted, cultivated, cared for and fertiHzed. 
CASTOR BEANS. 

These grow to be quite large, (that is the stocks) 
I have seen them as much as six inches in diam- 
eter near the orround. These stocks were all frozen 
dead in the heavy freeze of January 1886, and it 
will be several years before such large stocks will 
be seen again. A castor bean stock will naturally 
live and bear beans for several years in succession, 
not killed by frost or otherwise. Many orange 
growers plant or sow castor beans in their groves 
for the purpose of keeping down other weeds and 
grass and to shade the ground, thereby acting as a 
kind of mulch and yet letting the air circulate free- 
ly on the surface of the ground. The bean stocks 
are said to act as a fertilizer for the orange trees in 
that way. How this is I do not l^now, but I do 
know that where you see an orange grove thickly 
set with castor beans, the trees look nice and 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 6i 



thrifty and seem to be doing v\ell. 
BUCKWHEAT. 
I never saw or heard of any buckwheat growinc- 
in the State. 

RICE. 

A very little rice is grown. It is sown in rows 
about eighteen inches apart and thickly in the row. 
When it first comes up it looks like oats and un- 
less you knew what it was, you would sav it was 
oats, until it shoots out the heads, which are a 
little different from oats, being much stifFer and 
more upright. Rice like most other grain, grows 
taller or shorter in the straw, according to the 
quality of the land on which it is raised. 
FIGS. 

Nearly every fruit grower in Florida has a tew 
fig trees or bushes. These, as far as I can see, 
are like some other fruits grown here, more orna- 
mental than useful. While some people eat the figs 
right from the tree and pretend to say they are 
good and palatable, I would about as soon eat oak 
apples. I do not know but that these figs could be 
prepared in some way and made palatable and 
salable, but as they are now, they might as well be 
marked N. G. However they do very well to talk 
about by persons who are much interested in this 
Eldorado. They can say figs grow there also. 
NATIVE GRASSES. 

The native grasses of Florida are nearly all of a 



62 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

course, rough character and do not seem to possess 
much nutriment, with very few exceptions. 
Among them all, the crab grass seems to be the 
best. This is a joint grass and grows very thickly 
on the ground, and when trampled upon, wher- 
ever a joint touches the ground, it grows fast and 
forms a new stock ; it also produces seed in abund- 
ance, so you see it reproduces both from the tops 
and by rooting from the joints. It somewhat re- 
sembles blue grass when it is standing straight up, 
but very much coarser and rougher. Cattle and 
horses eat it readily and greedily and stock fatten 
on it alone. When not grazed off, it will grow to 
the height of two or three feet and in many places 
covers the ground as thick as it can stand. If 
mown or cut just before the seed ripens and well 
cured , it will make very good hay. Cattle and 
horses will eat it when well curea and seem to 
relish it about as well as when green. Unfortun- 
ately this grass grows only in certain localities and 
is only available for pasture, and hay for a com- 
paratively short time. It does not remain green 
all the year around, but it cures on the stock an^ 
becomes hard and dry, as do most of the native 
grasses here, and then stock either will nor or can- 
not eat it. Wire grass is a native. When young 
and tender stock eat it, but it soon begins to have the 
appearance of running briars, becomes hard and 
woody, when nothing but goats can eat it. It is 
good for nothing then that I know of but to harbor 



FL ORID A AS IT IS. 6^ 

and breed red bugs or jiggers. There is also a 
native grass that is more general than any other 
in the State. It has the appearance of what people 
in the North call "white top,'' a grass that grows 
in old natural meadows in the North, and is as 
thick as the hair on a wooly dog, near and on the 
ground and hardly ever grows over a foot high. 
This grass is fine in the stem, and remains green 
the greater part of the year, hence it is the main 
dependence ot^ the stock raiser. Then there is a 
very fine grass (that is fine or small in the stock) 
vind short that grows in old roads and old fields. 
Cattle only eat this when the}' can get nothing 
else ; then there is what is called bunch s^rass, some- 
thing after the nature of what is called sour grass 
in the North, only it grows in bunches. The 
western man will understand when I say it com- 
pares in appearance with the roughest kind of June 
grass ; then there is what is called saw grass. 
This, when young and tender, is much relished 
by cattle, but soon becomes hard and the teeth on 
the blades so sharp and hard that cattle will not 
even go near it ; then there is the marsh swamp and 
bull grass and a kind oi grass that grows in the 
bottom of shallow lakes and ponds- These latter 
remain green the whole year around and are the 
only source of feed for stock in the winter season, 
except the scrub and saw palmetto, which is the 
^-oughest kmd of forage, unless hay or dry {tied is 
provided, hence the cattle get very poor in the 



64 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 



winter and toward spring and many of them die 
from sheer starvation. There are some other 
native grasses and plenty of weeds, mosses, pig- 
weed, &c., that would be useles and of no advant- 
age to any person to describe, 

BERMUDA GRASS. 
This grass is a foreigner, imported from Ber- 
muda, but took to the soil of Florida at once. Jt 
seems to be very closely related to the crab grass.- 
but of a finer quality. It is also a joint grass and 
propagates the same wa_y from the roots and joints, 
but produces no seed, hence to start it you mu.-t 
plant the roots or joints, either of which will grow 
in any kind of soil or even in pure sand, and when 
once started, it is there just as long as you want it^ 
and sometimes longer, for should you want to get 
rid of it, you will find a larger job than it was to 
start it in the first place. 1 his Bermuda grass is 
better in quality and equally as good in quantity. 
and answers every purpose that the crab grass- 
does, with the advantage that it will grow any- 
where or place where there is soil or sand of any 
kind, which the crab grass will not do. 

TIMOTHY AND CLOVER, 
There is none growing anywhere in the State 
that I know'of, nor do I think there ever will be. 
The scil is not the kind to produce either the one 
or the other. 

ALFALFA OR GERMAN CLOVER. 
I have heard it said that some man got a few' 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 65 

•st::eds 01 it, planted it in his garden and it sprouted, 
came up and after it got to be a few inches high, 
had an advertisement put in the papers to the ef- 
fect that Alfalfa was the coming gras.*^ for Florida. 
He knew there was no mista^'e about it that he had 
ihe thing itself growing luxuriously on his place, 
when the facts were exactly as stated above. This 
^stem alone will give you some idea of how Florida 
is ''boomed" up by those interested. Persons read* 
ing the ab ,ve mentioned notice a thousand miles 
Northward, where clover, timothy and Alfalfa are 
grown in large field>?5 you would at once take it 
for granted that this man away down in Florida had 
acres of Alfalfa growing on his farm, and it is a 
well known fact that this grass is a great producer 
and you would at once conclude, -'well if Altalta 
grows that way down there, there surely need be 
no scarcity of either pasture, fodder or hay,* when 
the facts were simply a few stocks had been coaxed 
to grow a few inches Now" it has been said that 
'^ 'truth is might}^ and will prevail, "' I reckon the 
sa}ing is true, when the truth, the whole truth and 
nothinor but the truth is said or written. Now iu 
this Alfalfa case the truth and nothing but the 
^ruth wa§ written or ad^'crtised. the Alfalfa seeds 
were planted, germinated rnid grew, but it was told 
in such a way that it would mislead almost any 
person that w^as not, at least partially acquainted 
with the circumstances, climate or country. Thr 
fact is a crop of Alfalfa cannot be |jrown in FJor- 



66 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



ida, no more than timothy, clover or an}^ of the 
Northern tame or held grasses, for the reason that 
the season, soil, climate and all other natural con- 
di ions are against it, just as they are against growing 
wheat and other cereals that require the seed to be 
frozen in the ground, or the ground frozen and pre- 
pared before the seed is put into it. It will be well 
enough to theorize, say and write that there is no 
reason known why thus and so can't be done, but 
there are reasons and good ones, too, why certain 
things cannot be done. Notwithstanding all our 
theories, speculations or imaginations about them, 
if the natural conditions are not favorable in the 
end, you will have your labor for your pains and 
reap only disappointment and vexation. Theories 
and imaginations to amount to anything at all, must: 
conform to the nature of the thing or subject 
theorized upon, otherwise they are valueless. 
WILD FLOWERS— TREES. 
Among the wild flowers, the Magnolia lor size 
and sweetness, may be called the queen. These 
flowers when in full bloom, resemble an enormous 
cabbage rose, only the}^ are perfectly white. A 
large magnolia in full bloom is a sight when once 
seen, will never be forgotten ; the most delightful 
perfume fills the air for many rods around the tree. 
Many of the flowers are more than a foot in diam- 
eter when in full bloom. There is this peculiarity 
about them, while they are perfectly w^hite, and 
remain so while on the tree and after they are taken 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 67 



off, unless your finger or an\^ part of your flesh 
touches them, when the spot touched immediately 
turns red and remains so. The tree remains in 
bloom for sev^eral weeks, but produces no kind of 
either nuts or fruit, nothingr but kind of cone. It 
is an evergreen, but only blooms once a year, and 
that in April or early May. There are some other 
trees that produce flowers, but when you have 
o-nce seen the Magnolia, all the other flowering- 
trees dwindle into such insignificance that a de- 
scription here seems to be superfluous. 
WILD VINES. 

The trumpet flower and the honey suckle grow 
wild here in the Hammocks and produce large and 
beautiful flowers. Some of the trumpet flowers are 
as much as fifteen to eighteen hiches in length, 
while the honey suckles bloom abundantly Ver}'' 
many of the flowering vines and shrubbery of the 
North grow wdld in this State. 

FLOWERING SHRUBBERY. 

The wild Jassamine is perhaps the grandest. 
You will see great masses of this in the Hammocks 
literally covered with flowers in early summer. 
The flowers of many are variegated, while others 
are white, and indeed you can find Jassamine of 
almost any color. It is said the flowers are pois- 
onous, but of this I could get no certain knowdedgc 
There are many other shrubs and small bushes 
that produce flowers, some nice and large, others 
very small and tiny. There is a bush that grows 



68 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



to the height of several feet and produces a purple 
and white flower. The flower both before and 
after it opens is covered w^ith a kind of stick sub- 
sance something like syrup or honey. The flies 
seem to like this substance, but woe to the fly that 
a lights on flower bud or blossom ; his feet immedi- 
ately become fastened and in his efforts to get 
awav, his wings become fastened also and in a 
very short space of time the fly is dead. This 
bush is plenty in some localities and where they 
grow you do not find the flies so plentiful. If 30U 
break oft' the bush that have flower buds and blos- 
soms on them and place them, or hang them in 
your horse, in a very short time they will be full 
of dead flies. I know of no name for this bush or 
flour but FLY catchp:r. 

MARYGOLDS. 

Mary golds of the reddish variet}', grow wild 
here. There are hundreds of flowers of about all 
sorts and sizes growing in the timber and low 
lands of Florida, some of which are very beautiful, 
and very many of them are tiny, and but very few 
of the wild flowers have any perceptable perfume 
in them, 

CULTIVATED FLOWERS. 

Ore pinks, petumas, nearly all varieties of 
roses, four o'clock, tulips, peonies, asters, chrysan- 
themums and any, and nearly all other kinds and 
varieties of flowers that you may fancy can be 
grown in Florida, provided yovi have the patience, 



l^LORIDA AS IT IS. 69 

dme and money to buy and attend to them. Many 
of the flowers here are like tropical and semi-!rro]> 
cal fruits and shrubbery in the North. They can 
~^be had with proper care> attend on and protection. 
With a very few exceptions the natural and wild 
flowers of Florida are neither plentier or prettier 
than they are in ihe North, and yet il is called the 
*'Land of Sunshine and Flowers.'" It could be 
■called the Land of Sand and Shower with rather 
-more propriety than the other, but there h not s(i 
very much in a name after all, particularly when 
the truth is known^ 

LILLIES AND CALLA LILLIES 
Of nearly every kind and color grow wild; so 
do flags. These latter grow in some lands, some 
of which are very pre^tty. 

FLOWERING MOSSES. 

Such as are cultivated in the North, are here^ 
treated asvveeds, and are con.siderable of a nuis- 
ance in the gardens. 

EVERGREEN TREES 

Are all of the citrus lamily, such as orange, 
lemon, shaddock, lime, &c. The magnolia bay, 
live oak, turkey oak, water oak, palmetto, man- 
$^rove, pine and .some others. 

DECIDUOUS TREES, 
Of those that shed their leaves in late summer or 
fall and again put out leav^es ifi early spring, are 
the hickor\' and pignut, the pecan ; the red, black, 



70 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



scrub and post oaks, maple, wild cherry, mulberry 
ash, persimmons and some others. 

HANGING OR HAIR MOSS. 

This is the moss of commerce. After being pre- 
pared, it grows on nearly all trees in the State, 
particularly in the south half of it. The heaviest 
moss is in the Hammocks and cypress swamps. 
It seems to fjrow best on the hard wood trees and 
cypress, but you find plenty of it on most of the 
pine trees, especially in the neighborhood of lakes 
or indeed waters of any kinds, whether lake, pond, 
river or springs. The higher the land the less 
there is of moss. I have seen moss grow on orange 
trees in orange groves ; however where this occurs 
the man or partv owning that grove had better sell 
to some man who will take care of the grove and 
keep the moss off the trees, for if he does not, he 
will in a short time find out that kind of a grove is 
not profitable. The moss does not grow on the 
b:dy or trunk of the trees, but attaches itself to the 
limbs or boughs and seems to thrive best when it 
gets a hold near the top of the trees ; it seems to 
feed on the air. It certainly is an air plant, for it 
will grow on a dead tree just as well as on a live 
one. It does not seem to injure any kind of trees 
except fruit trees, and the trouble here seems to be 
that the moss being so thick excludes the air par- 
tially from the fruit. The moss is attached to the 
limbs of the trees .seemingly by very small fibrous 
roots which adhere very closely. It grows in 



FLORIDA AS IT IS, 71 

bunches something h'ke a horses tail, and hangs 
the same vvaj^ Some of these bunches are as 
much as fifty feet in length, and there may be from 
twenty to live hundred of these bunches hanging 
on one tree, varying in length from three to hfty 
feet; the color of them when growing is of a dark- 
ish gray. It bears a liny whitish flower and blos- 
soms for several months in the year. There is 
millions of tons of this moss in Florida. It is not 
lit fur use ; when taken from the trees, it seems to 
be of the nature of flax ; it must undergo a rol- 
ling process, after which it is milled or broken, the 
fibre is then .separated ana packed in bales ; it is 
then the moss of commerce and ready for use. It 
seems to the writer that right here in this moss 
business, there is a good opening to make money 
and do it legitimately andm a business way. All the 
moss that is prepared, and being prepared, is done 
in a primitive way, and nearly all by manual labor 
and much of it is roughly and carelessh' put up 
with a great deal of dirt in it. It certainly would 
pay to form a company on a large scale, put up 
proper machinery at suitable places, and prepare 
this moss in a clear and proper way for the market 
and I wall here venture the guess that in the near 
tuture, such a company will be organized, 
machinery built and much money made by it. 
AIR PLANTS, 
Air plants are rather singular in iheir nature or 
ratlier they have a peculiar penchant for fastening 



FLORIDA AS IT IS 



or growing on almost anything, whether it ha's 
roots or not ; the most lingular to fny mind is llie 
mistletoe. This is a mixture between the bramble 
bush and a vine, it seems to come by a kind of 
chance^ (if -^uch a tiling can be) and att'Aches it- 
self to some tree of the oak family, either bve or 
deciduous and grows m a solid bunch tVom the 
size of a crows ne.^t( which it som-ewhat resembles) 
to manv feet in diameter, It usually aj*sumes a. 
roundish form^ it i^ an evergreen and wheti found- 
on deciduous treee, it presents a ver}' sii^gular ap- 
pearance- when the leaves of the trees have lallen; 
off. 

There is aroother very singular dr plainfi, llhe 
name of which I could nat learn-. In form and ap- 
pearan4:e- it i^alrrsost identical wilh the pine apple- 
It grows to ai large siz-e aud |:^oduces a spike or' 
stem, but instead of forming a solid fruig on ^op as- 
does the pine apple, it separates into many buncheS' 
or forks at the top of the ^tem>, and produces beau-- 
tiful flowers of various colors, but neither fruit or 
seed that I could discover or find out • This plant, 
attaches itself to almost a-ny kind of tree, but seems 
more abundant on live oak in the low lands v They 
do grow and thrive on dead trees, and I have seen' 
them growing on posts and against the sides of old 
houses and stables. There are many other va-- 
rieties of these (so-called) air plants that grow 
here, a description of which would be very nearly 
a repetition of what has been above written. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 73 

. CACTUS OR COWLEEKS 
The cactus family in Florida is not large, but 
what are here grow to an enormous size. They 
increase in size tVomyear to year ana produce very 
nice flowers until tlnally a freeze kills them, root 
•4nd- branch. 

SUGAR CAiNE, 
Sugar cane seed is not seed at all, but simply 
the cane stock cut in proper lengths, laid in the 
furrow or ground, cjvered eniirely up ; if the stocks 
are ripe aad in good coadition, they sprout at the 
joints and thus produce the ncvv cane. 

As a general crop in Florida, it has only been a 
partial success , and that only in special localities, 
notwithstanding, the reclaimed marsh lands is the 
right kind ot* land to raise this crop on, and when 
once the people get properly in the way of raising 
cane, in my judgement it certainly will, and must 
be a success. As yet sugar making in Florida is 
nearly all prospecdve ; all the}^ can now grow is 
nearly all made into syrup and the most of that is 
consumed within her borders. Some of the s3n'up 
made in Florida is equal to the best New Orleans 
molasses and there is no good reason why it should 
not all be of a good quality, if proper machinery 
was put up and proper care taken in manufacturing 
of the syrup. 

The cane seed or pieces of stocks are planted in 
rows several feat apart and in the row\s about like 
corn. It is cultivated about like corn. The ijrst 



74 FLORIDA AS ITIS. 



1 



season, a field or patch of cane looks very much 
like a field of corn ; the stocks are jointed, and the 
blades all ret^emble corn. The stocks in rich 
marsh lands grow as much as twenty feet highy 
and many of them are as much as two and a half 
and three inches in diamtter at the butt and they 
carry thfir thickness for from six to ten feet before 
beginning to taper. At the proper time they tassel 
out something like sorgham or broom corn ; very 
soon ofter tasseling, they are what is called ripe? 
and then syrup or sugar making begins, the cane 
V^eing cut and cured can be worked up months 
afterward. As soon as the cane is cut the roots 
rattoon stool out, thus producing the start for an- 
other crop, and when freezing does not interfere 
one planting will answer for several years and it is^ 
sa'd that more and better sugar and syrup can be 
made tVom these rattoon s or suckers the second, 
third, and even up to the fifth year, provided the 
rattoons or suckers are not allowed to cover the 
ground too thickly, and are not frozen. It is said 
by those who ougnt to know, that sugar cane will 
not ripen seed anywhere in the United States, con- 
sequently when new cane farms are first started 
the seed must first come fj-om cuba or elsew^here. 
One thing I do l^now, that the parties who are now^ 
starting sugar farms in the reclaimed marsh lands- 
of the Disston Company, imported their cane seed 
from Cuba. Sugar making in Florida may or 
mav not be a success, the future alone will tell.. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 75 



and ibr the information of those who have been 
otherwise informed, I will only say, that while 
sugar has been made in Florida, it is by no means 
established that the business can be made a paying 
business. 

HORSES. 

The native horses are all small and of the pony 
order ; there are, however, some very fine horses 
here, nearly all of which have been imported or 
brouo-ht here from other States and cost bitr 
money. 

MULES 

Are used tor drawing loads, plowing, etc. They 
are as a general thing, brought here from Ken- 
tucky, and it is a very indifferent one that will not 
sell for one hundred and fifty dollars, and some 
good ones will bring nearly double that amount of 
mone}^. 

CATTLE. 

The native cattle are very small and of the com- 
monest kind, generally weighing when lat enough 
for beef (when they are three or fours years old) 
from two to three hundred pounds net, and thous- 
ands of them will not weigh that much each when 
hun£^ in the market. A cow (all cattle are called 
cows here, no matter whether it is a bull, cow, 
heiier, steer, stag or call) that will dress from two 
hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of clean 
meat, is considered extra large. There are, how- 
ever, some very fine milk cows in the State, which 



76 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 



have been imported from other places. This kind 
of stock does not do very well here, either on ac- 
count of climate or some other cau;se. It requires 
^ri'eat care to acclimate them and even with all the 
care that can be taken, a large percentage of them 
die the fh-st j-ear after being brought here. 
OXEN, (COWS) 
Are much used for carr3ing, (drawing.) Re- 
member in this countr}' nearly everj^thingis carried 
as for instance carry the cows to water, carry the 
log to the mill, etc.. Hauling or drawing in this 
country is always called carrj-ing and an^'thing 
that IS small and can be carried by hand, is here 
called todng, as for example, tote these eggs to 
market, or tote this wood into the kitchen, etc. 
The reader will have to pardon this digression, I 
started on oxen, (cow). Drawing cattle ma}' be 
steers, bulls or cows, and it is no unasual sight to 
see a bull and a cow under the same yoke, draw- 
ing a load. Cows are also driven single in shafts. 
Yon see Florida buggies drawn hy a single cow. 
A Florida bugg}^ is a kind of a cart mounted on 
two wheels with two poles for shafts, the motive 
power being a cow. I have seen in or on one of 
these vehicles, a man, a woman and five children 
and they seemed to be about as happy as mortals 
general!}' are. but to me it seemed rather a sorry 
looking crowd. I have seen as many as six and 
eightpairs of these cows attached, or hitched to a 
wagon loaded with a load that any two good 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 77 

Northern horses would have walked ric^ht aloncr 
with it on a good Northern road, but what the horses 
would, or could have done in a Florida sand road, 
the writer has- no means of knowing. 

SHEEP. 
There are very few of them in the State. I 
kow of no reason w^hy they should not do well. 

GOATS. 

This certainly would be a grand country for 
goats, if rough garbage and weeds are the stuff for 
them to forage on, and if they could be utilized in 
any way. As it is, very few goats are here and I 
do not know of any use they are being put to, ex- 
cept as playthings for the boys. 

HOGS, 

The native hogs are very small and of the razor 
back or cat fish variety ; about one-third of the 
whole hog is head, then gently tapering to the 
tail. It takes a big hog here, when fat to weigh 
one hundred pounds, I mean a native Florida hog. 
There are some imported stock that is much better. 
To my mind Florida is not much of a country to 
raise hogs in — nothing to feed them on. 

DOGS. 

Of all the States that I have ever been in, Flor- 
ida beats them all for mongrel curs. 

CATS. 
House cats are not plenty, but pole cats are. 



78 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

CHICKENS. 

Chickens do well. They are not subject to di- 
sease, and with a little proper attention, are a source 
of revenue. The common dunghill or mixed breed 
seems to be the best adapted to this climate. Near- 
ly ever person who have tried the pure bloods or 
the so-called fancy chickens have failed for some 
cause. I can see no reason why any l^ind of chick- 
ens should not do well in Florida, as above stated 
they are not subject to any of the diseases that 
chickens are in the North. It is true, however, 
that the mites (chicken lice) are very much worse 
here than they are in the North, but they are easily 
kept down if understood. It is said, but I have not 
seen them, that there is a kind of a chicken flea 
in some parts of the State, that when these fleas 
get on a chicken that they become so numerous 
that they destroy the skin of the chicken and cause 
their death. 

There are so many beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, 
crickets, and so many and various insects here 
during the greater part of the year, that fowls run- 
ning at large about pick up their own living, and 
about all vou have to do is feed them a little each 
morning and evening, shut them up at night and 
keep them shut up in the morning until after they 
lay, thus securing the eggs, then let them run the 
balance of the day. It is no trouble at all to raise 
young chickens, and it seems strange that so few- 
are raised. They always command a good price, 



FL ORIDA AS IT IS. 79 

and eggs are never less than twenty-five cents a 
dozen any place in the State that I have been, and 
very often are sold for fifty cents a dozen, the fact 
is in many places fresh eggs cannot be haa at any 
price half the time> 

TURKEYS. 

Turkeys for some cause that the writer does not 
know^ seem to not do welL 

DUCKS AND GEESE. 

These^ if properly taken care of, the right kind 
wf coops and pens made so as to protect them from 
alligators, skunks ?nd opossums, certainly ought 
to> and would do well, but I do not now remember 
of seeing a tame duck or goose in the State. 

NOTE.— Since wilting the above, T saw one old tame goose. 

GAME.. 

In the Soistherfi part of the State, deer and bears 
are plenty ; wild turkeys, quail, and rabbits are 
found in nearly all parts of the State. There are a 
good many wild cats, and in the extreme south are 
found many American panthers, cougar or cata- 
mount, coons, opossums, and others are here in 
places very abundant. Squirrels are said to be 
plenty, but I have seen none in the State. There 
is abundant room and plenty of glorious fun for the 
sportsman and hunter, even without the squirrels, 
indeed you would hardly 'thifi'< of them when you 
4iad such game as deer and the others named, and 
last but not least by any means is shooting alli- 
.igators, this in itself, is royal fun or sport ; th«en3 uu 



So FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



have wild ducks and geese, which, in season and 
places, are very plenty : then there are thousands 
of cranes, plume birds, herrons, blue, gray and 
white Cormorants, black ducks, water turkeys and 
thousands of other birds, so that the sportsman can 
enjoy himself to his hearts content. A great many 
of the large birds known in Florida, are not seen 
in the North at all in a wild state. 
BUZZARDS. 
Buzzard-s are the natural scavengers of the 
country. They are very plenty and are especially 
protected by law under a severe penalty. They 
clean up everything of a meat or fish nature that 
that is thrown out, even before it becomes offensive 
They are so tame that they will come into your lot 
and even to your door, and very often you can go 
near enough to touch them. They are perfectly 
harmless and destroy nothing that is Useful. It is 
rather a singular sight to see buzzards stepping 
around among 3^our flock of chickens, (this the 
writer has seen many times), neither seeming to 
care for, or be afraid of the other. 
PAROKEET^. 
This is a bird of beautiful plumage. They are a 
kind of parrot, and it is said that when taken very 
young, they can be taught to imitate the human 
voice, and even articulate certain words. This 
mav be so, I however have the first one }'et to see 
or hear that made any sound, that had the faintest^ 
resemblance to the human voice to my ear. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 81 



BEES. 

Both the black and Italian bees are in Florida in 
a wild state 5 when put into hives they make or 
gather some honey, but are not very profitable. 
In the spring or early summer when the orange 
and magnolia trees are in bloom, they do well and 
gather vast quantities of honey, provided there is 
not much rain. The honey plants and flowers 
here, are no better than they are in the North, and 
many of the best honey plants of the North are not 
here at all, such as white clover, catnip, buck* 
\vneat, and others i the locust and apple are also 
missing, but to balance this, Florida has the orange 
and magnolia, and in the extreme South the man- 
grove. The bees here have a much longer season 
to work in and all things being favorable, a good 
colony will gjather more honey here in a year than 
they will farther North or w'here the seasons are 
shorter. Bees do not seem to care to work when 
the thermometer is much below sixty-five, conse- 
quently there is quite a while in the winter season 
Ihat they cannot, or do not gather honey, and if 
they could, or were disposed to gather at this seas- 
*-3n, there is verry little, if any to gather. It is true 
there are man}' varieties of flowers in lull bloom in 
mid-winter, but there is tio honey at all in most of 
them, and such as do have honey in them, is so 
h^haped thai the bees cannot get it. Again it is 
never so cold here but what the bees are active in 
then- hives, and they have brood at all seasons of 



82 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

the year, an(;i when they cannot gather honey trom 
outside, they consume what is inside. It is said 
that bees do much better further south, especially 
so in the mangrove country. From my own ob^ 
servation, if I were to raise bees I would seek oth- 
er quarters to operate in. 

SNAKES. 
Rattlesnakes, of which there are several kinds 
or species — Moccasin and Cottonmouth, seem to be 
the most dangerous. These all have fangs and 
their bite is frequently fatal, unless the proper rem- 
edies are at hand to apply. I have seen the skins 
(if Rattlesnakes in Florida that were all of twelve 
feet in length and to all appearance the snake when 
living must have been eight inches in diameter in 
the thickest part. This kind however are not very 
plenty. There is a rattlesnake called the Ground 
Rattler, that is plenty and perhaps the most dan- 
gerous of all the snakes of Florida because of his 
habits. This ground rattle snake is small ; never 
exceeds a couple of feet in length ; is of a kind of 
grayish color ; he crawls under pieces of bark, 
wood or boards ; coils himself up there and should 
you go to remove the matter with which he is cov- 
ered, or step on the same, you are almost certain 
to be bitten. This snake gives no warning, al- 
though he has rattles he does not use them only in 
the act of biting, the warning is then too late. Not 
so with his big brother, which always warns before 
biting, and unless you can come upon them very 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



suddenly there is not much danger from the larger 
species, for there is generally enough time be- 
tween the warning and the bite for you to get out 
of their way and I would here advise you not to 
tackle (attempt to kill) one of these big fellows 
unless you are well prepared to do battle or have a 
good rifle with you. Then besides these two 
species above named, there is a medium sized rat- 
tle snake that presents very nearh' the same ap- 
pearance as the large one, whose habits are about 
the same. It is said that this is a distinct species 
I did not investigate this snake business very closely, 
but from what I saw and know of this snake, I am 
of the opinion that when he lives as long as his big 
brother, he will be about the same size. 

As for the Moccasin snake, I have never seen 
one, although they are said to be numerous and 
their bite very poisonous. The most danger from 
them is that they lie out at night on the public 
roads, foot paths and even on board walks and if 
you should happen to step or tramp on one of them 
you are almost certain to be bitten. 

The cotton mouth is a l^ind of adder somethin^j 
like what the Northern people call a blowing viper 
When disturbed they throw back the upper part of 
their neck, thus exposing the entire inside of their 
mouth, which very much resembles an open ball 
of cotton, hence the name cotton mouth. It is said 
this snake is not apt to bite unless provoked or sud- 
denly surprised. 



84 FLORIDA AS IT IS. ] 

There are many, very many other kinds and 
species of snakes in Florida, as the black snake, 
a large gray snake, coach whip, (Northern people 
call it black racer), garter house and others, none 
of which are very dangerous. 

SALAMANDERS AND CHAMELEONS.' 

These are a species of lizzards from four to 
eight inches long ; thev burrow in the sand, throw- 
ing up great piles of it, especially in the scrub pine 
lands, you will frequently find thousands of these 
little sand hills about the size of a half bushel on a 
single acre of land. You do not want much of 
that kind of land to raise oranges or truck on. 
GOPHERS. 

Gophers are a kind of rat or ground mole that 
burrows in the ground and a half a dozen of them 
will destroy a young orange grove by eating off 
the roots in a very short time if only left alone. 
The only way to stop them is to trap them, (which 
is very hard to do) or dig after until you catch 
them, which is quite an undertaking, as they get 
away about as fast as you get after them. 
COOTERS. 

This is a kind of terrapin or land turtle, which 
also burrows in the sand. They are harmless as 
far as I can ascertain. When they are full grown 
they weigh about twenty pounds and are said to 
be very good to eat, equally as much so as soft 
shell turtles, of which there are abundance in many 
of the lakes in Florida. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



MOSQiJITOS, GALINIPPERS, 

And Gnats are very numerous and verv pestif- 
erous. You hear it said and read it in news- 
papers published here, that there are some mos- 
quitos in Florida, but in many places they are 
comparatively free from them. No person does say 
that there are none here, and no person can truth- 
fully say but w^hat they are very abundant all over 
the State- In one of the towns that is &>aid to be 
^ree from these pests, you cannot walk the streets 
or sit in the house five minutes without having the 
pests singing about your ears, and it is impossible 
to sleep at night without being protected by a good 
mosquito bar, and the bar must be tucked under 
the mattress and perfectly tight or they will find 
you under it. If they only lasted a short time you 
could stand it, but they pest you for nearly nine 
months of the year. This is almost too long, even 
for all the advantages Florida promises to give : 
then the black sjnats are no pleasant companions, 
they get into your mouth, eyes and nose and while 
they, do not present their bills with as much pertin- 
acity as do their big brothers, (the mosquitos and 
galinippers) , and while they do not trouble you in 
the dark or while trying to sleep, they are very un- 
pleasant to have about ; then in connection with 
the mosquitos and galinippers and gnats, you 
have the 

FLEAS 

Innumerable Cimex Lecturlarius. The per- 



86 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



fume from tnese latter when you smash one of them 
is indeed very different from "attar o{ roses," and 
the}' are very numerous and can be found inside 
and out of about all the houses in Florida, whether 
inhabited or otherwise. The winged insects and 
bugs are so numerous that it is almost impossible 
to read or do anything in the house after dark by 
candle light without shutting doors and windows 
tightly, or having very fine screens over them^ 
hence in traveling through Florida by rail after 
night, you will see large fires built near the dwell-- 
inir houses. You wonder what these fires are tor 
in the warm weather. Here is the secret ; to de-- 
stro} the bugs and insects, which it does to. a cer-- 
tain extent, but the mosquito cannot be caught in 
that way : he is a night bird to a very great extent 
and keeps av\ay from the fire. The only way to 
dispo>e ot" them efl^ectually is to catch him, which 
requires ab.ut the same amount of exertion and 
dexterity that it does to catch a flea, and after you 
have him, squeeze him gently between your thumb 
and finger until he is dead. If these pests named 
were all, you still might put up with all of them^ 
lor the seeming advantages to be derived, but when 
the "red bugs," and sand fleas begin to levy tribute 
you will begin to think Florida has some pests. 
RED BUGS AND JIGGERS. 
Red bugs and jiggers are all over the State, in 
fields and forests, in the sand, in the grass, on flow- 
ers and weeds, on the trees and bushes and particu-- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 87 



larly on old logs and in the moss that grows on 
the trees. They, however, do not infest the houses 
but it is almost impossible to keep them off your 
body ; the}' are so small that you can scarcely see 
them with the naked eye, but. when they get on 
you, as they certainly will, if you walk around 
much or stand among the grass or weeds. The 
first intimation you have of them being on you, is 
an itchiness, which you will naturally rub or 
scratch, which, instead of relieving, only increases 
the irritation, and the more you rub or scratch the 
itchier the place becomes ; on the first opportunity, 
you make an examination, you will then discover 
the skin is red and inflamed — the bugs are there 
sure enough ! and at work, and unless you get them 
killed very soon, the place where they are be- 
comes very sore and begins to slough (sluff) ofi'. 
The best remedy known is to rub with kerosene, 
(common coal oil) : very strong spirits of camphor 
will also answer ; as soon as vou discover that the 
bugs are on you, if one application does not kill 
them, the second will be sure death. To avoid 
getting the bugs on you either stay in the house, 
or rub your body all over with coil oil before dress- 
ing in the morning, then you can go where you 
please with impunity. So far as red bugs and jig- 
gers are concerned, there is another pest that you 
will likely become acquainted with before you are 
very long in the -'Land of Sunshine and flowers :" 
it is the 



88 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



WOOD TICK. 

These, however, are not very plenty ; they gel 
on your body and may be on lor days before you 
know it; they, like the red bug, produce an itchi- 
ness : in trying to relieve, which you will tind a 
small lump or protuberance, on close inspection 
you will tind the tick about the size of a large sheep 
louse ; no trouble to tind or see them ; you will tind 
him securely fastened. The head of the tick is 
formed something like the sharp point of a wood 
screw with the thread cut the reverse way and un-- 
less you unscrew the tick and get it all out of the 
place where it was fastened, will become very sore 
Many persons not knowing the nature of this pest, 
seize hold of the body of the tick and pull them off, 
in that case you almo^^t invariably let the head part 
remain in \ our tiesh. which naturally must beal 
out. I have named some of the most pestiferous 
pests. There are plenty of others that you will be-- 
come acquainted with should you at any time spend 
a year in Florida. 

BUG^, BEETLES, &C. 
These are here by the thousands of millions. 
The vast majority of them, as far as I know, are 
harmless, and are useful for chicken feed, if for 
nothing else. 

ROACHES. 
Roaches are very numerous and are, or do de- 
stroy some things when they get into the houses, 
as they generally do and not in small quantitie?;^ 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 89 

either. 1 have seen roaches in Florida one and 
one-half inches long and lully five-eighths of an 
inch wide. 

COMMON OR HOUSE FLIES. 
These need no particular description as they are 
common all over the world in certain seasons of 
the years In Florida we have them in abundance 
during the whole year^ 

MICE. 

Mice are plentiful and just as destructive as they 
are in the North, and seem to be about the same 
kind of mice. 

RATS. 

1 have not seen or heard of a black or gray rat 
in the State, I have no doubt they are here, not- 
withstanding, there is an Albino or large white rat 
here dom.esticated. and they are used as cats for 
catching m.ice> 

TOADS AND FROGS. 

These are numerous here, and the only differ- 
ence I see is they are smaller. There is a kind of 
toad here that makes a noise very much lil^e a 
duck and there is a cricket that hollars just like a 
young chicken. 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE STATE AT 
LARGE AND SOME OTHER THINGS. 

The area of the State is iibout 60,000 square 
miles, or say 38,400,000 acres. Fully the one- 
half is covered with water and swamps, about 



90 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

one-half of the balance is marsh and low, flat land, 
two-thirds of which can never be utilized for any 
purpose ; this leaves about one-sixth of the State 
that is upland. Now perhaps one-half of this, or 
one-twelth of the State, which can with proper 
drainage, good cultivation and abundance of fertil- 
izer, be made to produce vegetables and almost 
anything that will grow in a semi-lropical climate. 

As to cost of production and what they will bring 
in cash, will perhaps be the subject of another 
chapter in this or some other book. If it were not 
that many of the products of Florida are raised and 
marketed in a season of the year that they bring 
extra good prices, the producer w^ould have very 
little but his labor for his pains, as it is, if the pro- 
ducer had to entirely depend upon the products of 
the soil for a living, many of them would have 
very short rations or allowance. 

About now you will ask, what then are the at- 
tractions and inducements for people to go to Flor- 
ida? The answer may be given by asking this 
question: "What are the attractions and induce- 
ment for people to go to Saratoga Springs, Cat- 
skill and White mountains, or any and all of the 
famous summer resorts in the North ?" Very few- 
people go there, or to any of those places with* a 
view to make money, (except the hotel keepers), 
but rather for recreation and rest. This is all well 
enough and perfectly legitimate when you have 
ample means and can afford it. Nows these sum- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 91 

mer resorts are generally so situated iuld their lo- 
<catioiis are 8ucb, that there is not much chance tor 
sharpers and speculators, Consequently you do not 
find many o( this character there. Now Flofida is 
a natural winter resort for the class of people who 
have leisure and money to spend, and who wish to 
^void the long cold winters of the North, and the 
Territory being larger ; selections of place and lo- 
cality can be made to suit the purses of alK The 
winters here are almost like summer in the North, 
and for some thfee or four months there are com- 
paratively few pests to trouble you. For rest and 
recreatior^, th'.s State Cannot be surpassed in the 
Union, and I doubt if itl the known world, but 
^vhen that is said, it is nearly all that can be truth- 
fully said about it, but the chances for speculation 
here are too great to be overlooked ; many places 
(f beauty, must be and are improved ; large hotels 
and boarding houses are built, and paper towns 
•are laid out, number of inhabitants are kind of 
miraculously increased, flaming circulars are sent 
broadcast over the North- These circulars as a 
general thing Contain som^e truths and they are so 
worded and prepared that -they -seem to describe 
the country almost as being a paradise — all the 
good is told and well told, and the bad is kept in 
the background and is seldom, if ever mentioned. 
Syndicates or companies of speculators are form- 
'xrd a few thousand acres are bought, the land costing 
tVom one dollar and twentv-five Cents to three and 



92 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

a half dollars per acre, a town plot or winter resort 
is laid oft'; certain lots are always reserved for 
churches and schools ; a good deal of money is 
spent in advertising and a little in cutting streets 
and roads in the new city ; a little bit of a shant}' is 
put up and advertised as a grand hotel. There is 
usually a cut or picture on the advertisement or 
circular showing a magnificent hotel with carriage 
in waiting to take you to and from the depot, also 
showing magnolia and palmetto and orange trees 
laden with fruit- This all looks splendid on paper 
when the facts are, that in many cases there is not 
a magnolia or palmetto tree, or a bearing orange 
tree within man}^ miles ot this particular locality, 
and the hotel is as above described, this, however, 
is called booming. These circulars also set forth 
that there are about so many inhabitants there now 
and for a short time small lots, say 40x100 feet, 
can be had for from two to ten dollars , each, but 
you must be in a hurry about it for the lots are 
going off (selling) very rapidly and the price will 
be double or more in a short time. You are also 
told that this land is first qualitj^ and on it can be 
raised all kinds of vegetables, tropical and semi- 
tropical fruit, and strawberries — no end to them, 
and for a very small sum you can build you a 
house to live in ; some of them even say that lor 
, so much, they will put up for you a neat cottage 
and have it ready so that all 3^ou have to do is to 
come right along, (better not come right away, the 



FLORIDA AS I F IS. 93 



bouse may not be ready for some time)^ Many of 
them tell yon that it is just as pleasant to live in 
Florida in the summer as it is m witner. This all 
looks splendid on paper, and it does not, according 
to these circulars, seem to require much capital to 
own a house and lot in Florida. About the next 
thing you begin to talk of this matter to your neigh- 
bors and they become interested and in short 
among you, you have sent the syndicate or com- 
pany a few hundred dollars, in due course ot time 
3'ou get your deeds for the land or lots ; this is all 
bona fide and in proper shape : your title is good 
and the land or lots are there sure enough, and 
you are a land owner m Florida and it has not cost 
you a great deal either. But now let us figure a 
little and see if some person has not paid prett}' 
well for the whistle, considering its size. *^uppose 
you pay only five dollars for a lot 40x100 feet, you 
get four thousand square feet of land, this land cost 
the company, say two dollars per acr,e and perhaps 
two dollars more an acre to advertise and getting 
you t*^ buy. Now we find that there is a little over 
ten such lots in an acre, so 3^ou see 3*ou have paid 
the compan\^ at the rate of over fifty dollars for 
what cost them not over four dollars, now this is 
quite a neat little job, a clear profit of not less than 
forty-five dollars on an investment of four dollars. 
Very often after the company have sold the major- 
ity of their lots they abandon the enterprise alto- 
gether ; they have accomplished their object to 



94 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



make money ; they have made their pile, (so ta 
speak) and while they have failed to do as their 
circulars represented, what they have done has 
been within the statute and there you are and with- 
out remedy : the enterprise is a fizzle or failure ; to 
be a little more explicit, it is a fraua and a swindle 
The only thing you can do is to bear your loss 
and look out and not buy the next time until } ou 
see what you are getting. This is no fancy picture 
nor is there any imagination about it. Such cases 
are constantly occurring and can easily be speci- 
fied. I would not have the reader understand that 
all land, speculations and enterprises in Florida 
are of this character, but I w^ould have you under- 
stand that they will all bear watching, and some of 
them very closely, and I here and novv advise you 
to hold on to your money until you have thorough- 
ly investigated the case, and as for me, 1 would 
not entrust this investigation to any one, but before 
I invested a single dollar. I would go and see for 
myself. There are certainly many good chances 
to speculate, and make money rapidly in Florida, 
but in order to do it, you must be right here on the 
ground with the money to take advantage of the 
chances as they occur. What a man wants to 
make money here, is some capital, the more the 
better, lair judgement and some pluck, (vim), but 
, unless a person has some considerable cash en 
hand, there are very many places preferable to 
Florida to live in or make money. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 95 



COPY OF LETTER. 

'•Ed. Falcon: — Never having written yoii since mv 
arrival in "the Land of Sunshine and Flowers," I 
thought the views and ideas of one who now lives here 
would not be uninteresting to some of your readers, lor 
some of them, like the writer, may be foolish enough to 
want to exchange the certainties of old Albemarle for 
the very uncertainties of the very great humbuggers of 
this very great myth cf the land of gnats, sand flies, 
sand, i.e. Florida. I have been in this State just nine 
months and can truly say that the only ones that I 
have seen, who lil^e it, are those who came down several 
years ago and happened to strike land that was then of 
comparatively no value, and which has since risen to 
value on account of immigration or those who come here 
with thousands of dollars in their pockets, and speculate 
in lands and town lot sat almost fabulous prices. I my- 
self came here with a few hundred dollars in my pockets 
with the idea in my head that I had only to invest that 
in either merchandise or a piece of land, to live ever 
after in ease and comfort. I was wrong, my ideas were 
based on the articles of which the State is composed, 
namely sand. I found I could not buy a building lot 
anywhere convenient to the business portion of the town 
(Orlando) without expending the whole of the little 
cash I had brought with me in the naked lot alone. It 
is true I can buv a small lot 50x140 feet about one mile 
from the centre of the town for two hundred dollars in 
cash down, but why are these lots sold so cheaply? I 
will tell. Hold your ear close that I may whisper it, for 
I must not speak of these things aloud. It is because 
the lands are so low that they are almost entirely cover- 
ed with water and a person cannot walk upon the streets 
where they are located, unless he has on what our fisher- 
man in North Carolina ca 1 hip boots. These are 
facts and yet they sell lots. Why? I will tell you in 
the fall and winter when they are comparatively dry, the 
Northern man with capital in his pocket comes down 
lo invest, he is taken hold of by the land s'larps, (real 
e state agents) — no reflection Mr. Editor, and first shown 



FLORIDA AS IT IS 



higher up town, which does not oveifl )w, an<l offers them 
at troiD . ight hun(ired to two thousand dollars per lot; 
of course when he is offered the other at two hundred 
dollars b cause ihey are a little farther out; (nothing 
said about their hcing low); he uaos them at once, ^oes 
to work and puts a shell on them, costing from two to six 
huniirtd dollars and rents them out at trom twelve to 
twenty dollars a month — the same house with oOxloO 
f( et that rents in Elizabeth City lor six dollars a month 
would reno here quickly for from twenty to twenty-five 
dollars per montli 

Trade in merchandising is now very duU here, but the 
town authorities are using their best endeavors to make 
times brisker by putting on new takes. We have & 
water clo>et tax at the rate of thirteen (iollars [*er yearj- 
which tlie poor renter has to pay; a little street tax of 
six dollars per year for each voter. These are only i^ 
proportion to other taxes, which you see are all very 
moderate. 

There is only one thing that keeps, or hoi Is at least 
one-third of the p<»pulation of this section here; want of 
means lu get away ; They spent their all t<j get here and 
now can't i-ave engugh ot money to pay their way back 
home. 

Tidkiiig about rents, I pay for a shell that is neither 
lathed, piastend or ceiled on the inside, and with boards 
ruhnmg up and down on the outside on a lot of about 
seventy-five feet square; the modest little sum of fifteen 
dollars per monch, pa5'able in advance every time, and 
then under obligations to take it lor the whole year. 
My stcre rent is more reasonable, being only Iwenty-five 
dollars per month for a room about nine by forty-five 
feet but that is really low in proportion to some others. 
If you ask me, can people stand this long? I will an- 
swer no ! Business here will not justify it and I will 
answer that before the summer is over, manj- will be 
compelled to sell out and close up. 

You never see corn growing here or any of the ceiealsr 
or grass. All of the feed is imported and nearly all ex- 
cept a few inferior vegetables that is used here for foci? 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



97 



bv the inhabitants is brought here from the North and 
West. 

I rude out in the country on Sunday last to admire the 
'•Land of Flowers." T only saw p'ne barrens, swamps 
and lakes, what in North Carolina would be called ponds 
No flowers, no fields of eorn, wheat, cotton or clover, 
nothin<4 in fact but barrens with now and then a geld of 
sand with young orange trees set out in them. But they 
can raise cabbage, potatoes and other vegetables if they 
only chof)se to do so. I have it from the very lips of a 
man from Ohio^ now living here, who has tried it and 
he says as good vegetables can be raised here as any- 
where in the world, and that the cost of raising them 
will not be much more than double the price you can 
sell them for. I, of course don't know whether this is 
t.ue or not, but this I do know that ail with whom I 
have talked on the subject, say that the cost of culti- 
vation far exceeds the prices obtained. 

This country has a great reputation for climate, in 
fact it is all climate and sgnd, flies and other pests, such 
as it is. I have been told that the winters here are de- 
lightful. I suppose it must be so since they all say so, 
but I can say for myself, I have not found it so. My 
whole family, including my wife and myself, have suf- 
fered more from the col-d and colds here than on the 
bleak cost of North Carolina during the fall and winter 
of 1885 and 1886, 

Comment on the above letter is useless. It is the 
experience of thousands in Florida to-day, and will 
be of thousands more, until people come to know 
the true condition of the State, its resources and 
drawbacks. 

SOCIETY, 

The state of eociety may be truly said to be self- 
ish in nearly every sense of the word, A JNorth- 
ern man or woman, (when I say Northern, I mean 
anvbodv outside of Florida, whether from the North 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



South, East or West), on first coming to the State ; 
especially if they have money, which is soon found 
out by land agents and speculators, they are taken 
in hand by interested parties, and carried all over 
the town and surrounding country in good style, 
usually with a spanking team, rigged in the latest 
style, and if you are to be out all day, a good lunch 
and may be something to wash it down will be 
taken. Either that or arrangements made at some 
convenient place. In either case, the trip costs 
you nothing (directly). You will always find the 
driver a first-rate fellow ; he knows everybody he 
meets and w^ill introduce you and the newlv made 
acquaintance will give a flattering account of the 
country, its beauties and advantages. After leav- 
ing him, the driver will again take up the conver- 
sation. After expatiating on what the man said, 
he will show you that there is much more to be told 
in his case He will then perhaps give 3'ou a his- 
tory of the recent acquaintance which is always 
marvelous, particularl}^ in the way that he has ac- 
cumulated wealth ; usually the party came to Flor- 
ida ver}' poor, either bought or took up a piece of 
land, cleared it oft', fenced broke up, and planted 
a grove. There it is and you can, and do see it 
with your own eyes. These trees are from seven 
to ten years old and this season will have on each 
tree from a thousand to five thousand oranges ; 
(mighty good trees) these at a cent and a half a 
piece will bring, w^ell you can figure for yourself; 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 99 

about this time you are some place else, and an- 
. other new acquaintance is made and about the 
same stor}' is gone over again perhaps with a little 
variation, but always better, all the time, the 
brightest of the bright side is shown and kept be- 
fore you and expatiated upon in the most glowing 
language and the very best and choicest places are 
shown you, thus the day passes. 

You turn to the starting point, another engage- 
ment is made at the earnest solicitation of the party 
who has carried you around for another drive in a 
(iifferent direction on some other day, in the near 
future you leave him for the present. You, how- 
ever, scarcely get aw^ay from him until some one 
else hails you. These men get to know you very 
soon and promise to take you around to-morrow or 
next day ; you soon begin to think these people are 
very clever and very sociable, and that this is cer- 
tainly a very nice country to live in ; thus it goes 
on for a week or so until you make a purchase, 
which generally reveals the true state of yourfinan 
ces ; as soon as this is known, or if you have in- 
vested about what you intended and express your- 
self in that way, these fellows will hardly recog- 
nize you on the street, and many of the parties to 
whom you have been introduced, will have for<i-ot- 
ten you entirely ; the party that sold you, (so to 
speak) has accomplished his end, made his money 
paid his stool pigeons and now is looking out for 
other victims, while others got left, as thev say 



loo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

down here in Florida. Now when this transaction 
is thoroughly sifted, we find that by a previous ar- 
rangement that nearly all of the persons with whom . 
you have talked and been introduced to, there is 
an understanding that they are to talk just about 
the way they did, and they always manage to have 
enoucrh show of truth in the whole business to oaz- 
zle and fascinate you, (and let me here say that 
they understand their business) and get you to in- 
vest your money, and on further investigating you 
will find as you are shown around by different firms 
that you seldom meet any of the parties with whom 
you had become acquainted through other parties. 
Should it so happen, you are quickly drawn av^'ay 
from them. This being the case, and it is exacth'. 
it is plain to be seen (not at the time but afterward) 
that nearly everybody is interested in land specula- 
tion either directly or indirectly, and as soon as 
they have your money or signature, you can row 
your own boat. As is often the case when notes 
are given and you fail to meet it, then the friend- 
ship is shown, for often the law is enforced the day 
the note falls due, and the laws in Florida are such 
that debts of all kinds can be collected at once, if 
at all collectable. This same stran or thread runs 
through all the business transactions with store- 
keepers, mechanics &c. So long as you can pay 
cash, it is all right and friends are numerous, but 
when short of funds and want a favor, in ninety- 
nine cases out of every hundred^ you will stick. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. loi 



This, then fully demonstrates that the society and 
people of Florida, as a general thing, are selfish. 
There are some honorable exceptions, but they 
only prove the rule. There are very few neigh- 
bors, all are strangers as it v^'ere, and each one is 
taking care of him or herself, vs^hile their way of 
doing business is in some respects commendable, 
in others it is far from honorable. The rule here 
is to buy and sell for cash» This is all right, but 
if the trade is of such a nature that money can be 
made out of it, they will hold out every inducement 
for you to buy, (not particular about the cash,) but 
as soon as the trade is made and closed, as a mat* 
ter of business of course you give your obligations 
to pay at a certain time and just as soon as the time 
is up, if not paid the statute is put in force and the 
money is made, no matter how badl}' or who it 
hurts. There are a few exceptions to this, but 
they are very few indeed- My advice here, is 
never give a note or obligations of any kind in 
Florida, unless you are sure you know where the 
money is to come from to pay it, and that you are 
sure you will get it in time, or my word for it, you 
will have trouble and costs to pay also. 

MISREPRESENTATION. 

There are but few men or parties who are in any 
kind of business in Florida, but what will misrep- 
resent, or at least make things appear to be fullv 
as large as they are and many of them seem to 
think it no special harm, but rather smart to repre- 



io2 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



sent an article as first-class when they know it is 
not, or to say an article cost so much when it did 
not cost one-half of what they say. Another thing 
is very common here and that is to have several 
prices for the same article, the lowest of which is 
always high enough. If you happen to know^ 
what a thing is worth, you can generally buy 
about right, otherwise you will in all probability 
pay double or treble for it. This is considered all 
right and counted as smart, the fact is the motto 
seems to be, "get money, get it honestly if you 
can, if not, get it any way, so you don't steal it and 
get caught. 

POLITIC^. 

There really does not seem to be much bother 
about it in the State. The proclivities however^ 
are Democratic, but 30U hear very little said and 
elections are held with very much less clamor and 
corruption than they are in the North. The ma- 
nipulating or wire w^orking (if an}-) are done iri 
the registration of voters. A man connot vote un- 
less he is registered such a length of time prior to 
the election, and as the Board of Registration is 
located at the count}- seat of each county, you must 
therefore go to the county seat to find out if you 
are registered or not, otherwise 3'ou will find out 
on election da}^ as the list of registered voters is 
sent wath the other election papers to each polling 
place in the county. As a general thing nearly all 
voters, both white and black, are registered and sc>> 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. lo^ 



far as I Know or can see, or find out, each and 
-every man, both white and black, casts their vote 
as they please without let or hindrance from any 
person ; the stories you hear in the North to the 
contrary notwithstanding. I would not have the 
reader understand that there is no electioneering 
here about election times, for there is and some- 
times excitement runs very high, but I have never 
heard of any money being offered for votes in the 
State, it may have been done however* 
JNIGGERS. 

The word nigger is a term of general accepta- 
tion all over the State, and it is as much used by 
the blacks as the whites, and no disrespect is shown 
or attended when the w^ord is used. 

There seems to be no authentic censes or ac- 
count of the number or even relative number of 
white and black inhabitants in the State, but it is 
admitted by nearly all persons who seem to know 
that the niggers in the State outnumber the whites 
by very considerable. Some of the niggers arfe 
industrious and are doing w^ell — in many cases 
they are doing better than the whites as they stand 
this hot climate better than the whites, but take 
them as a class, they are lazy and w^orthless, and 
will not work unless compelled by necessity. Many 
of them live more like brutes than human beings » 
They are even (many of them) too lazy to cook 
meat or mutton corn, but eat them raw. Then on 
the other hand, there are niggers who have pride 



I04 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



enough to take care of themselves, and who are 
just as respectable and live just as good as any of 
the whites. On an average in doing manual labor 
two white men will do about as much work in a 
given time as six niggers would in the same time. 
The black mechanic will, however, do about as 
much w^ork as the white one in the same length of 
time, and there are some very £^ood mechanics 
among them. 

INDIANS. 
There are in tde Southern part of the State- 
principally in Dade, Monroe and Manatee counties 
about five hundred Indians. This number, like all 
other accounts of the inhabitants of the State are 
guessed at, and I guess the number is too high by 
nearly one-halt. Be this as it may, a remnant ol 
the once powerful i^eminoles are still in Florida^ 
They seem to be perfectly harmless and subsist by 
hunting, lishing and raising a few cattle. Some of 
them occasionally come as far North as Kissimmee 
City to exchange their furs, pelts, alligator teeth,. 
&c., for groceries, lire water, (whiskey), a little 
clothing, gewgaw^s, and ribbons. Their clothing 
is very scant, nor is it in the height of fashion. It 
consists of a garment made something like a short 
shirt, over which is usually worn a kind of jacket 
and head gear of some stuff or cloth usually red or 
other glaring, or gaudy color, trimmed with beads, 
alligator teeth or some gaudy tinsel. The buckF- 
(men) seem to care more for their head gear than 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 105 

any other part of their clothing. The squaws 
(women) dress about as the men, they however, 
wear no head gear, but instead thereof, usually 
wear moccasins. None of the bucks wear moc- 
casins, except the chiefs or those in authorit}^ who 
wear in addition to the above described dress moc- 
casins and kind of pantaloons or trowsers made of 
buckskin and being adorned with a wide flap or 
fringe down the legs about where the outside seam 
of pants are. The principal chief has his head 
gear also trimmed with eagle feathers and w^ears in 
addition a fancy breech clotti fancifully trimmed 
with tinsel and gay colors. The papoose (child- 
ren) run entirely naked until they are ten or 
twelve years of age over the country, everglades, 
&c., living in skin tents, bark cabins, hollow trees, 
etc. A large majority of them can speak enough 
English to make their wants known. 
MINERALS. 
There is in some places in the Northern part of 
the State some iron ore, but as yet not found in 
paying quantities. There are no other minerals 
that I know or can hear of in the State except sul- 
phur and that only in the water. Clay Springs 
are so strongly impregnated with sulphur that you 
can smell it several hundred yards away from the 
springs and when you approach the springs you 
can see the sulphur all around the margins. Place 
^i half dollar in the water and in a very few min- 
utes it turns to a yellow color, resembling gold. 



io6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

It however soon turns black on exposure to the air. 
There are many other sulphur springs in the State. 
The deep down water seems to all be impregnated 
with sulphur. Nearly all the artesian wells pro- 
duce sulphur water. 

STONE COAL, 

There is not any in the State that I know of. 
FUEL, 

Wood is the only fuel. Pine wood is usually 
used (the oak is very hard to chop) and while it is 
plenty and can be had for the gathering. The 
wood choppers here put up the wood in what they 
call strans. A stran of wood is said to be eight 
feet long, four feet high and wide as a stove wood 
stick is long. They will cut the wood whatever 
length you want, not exceeding twenty-four inches, 
A twelve inch length is the same price as a twenty- 
four inch length. It seems like as if the charge 
was for the work and not for the wood. Those 
strans they will deliver to you cut, split up and aM 
ready for the stove for one dollar and fifty cents 
a stran, so you see after all fuel costs right smart. 
There is, however, the consolation that this climate, 
especially in the summer time, does not require 
much fuel. The wood is always cut from the green 
tree and you must have lighter wood to start your 
fire with. This lighter wood is from old pine trees 
that have fallen down and the sap or white wood 
has all rotted off, leaving nothing but the fat pine 
heart and old pine knots. Lighter wood in Flor- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 107 

ida is called kindling wood in the North. This 
lighter wood is delivered to you in chunks and costs 
about two dollars a stran and you must split it up 
into kindling yourself or get it done ; you can suit 
yourself about this, 

HAULING OR CARRYING. 

You seldom hear the word haul or hauling in 
the sense used by Northern people. If they haul 
an3'thing here, it is called carrying. They carry a 
stran of wood, they carry the lumber for a house 
from the mill, they carry the stock to water, in fact 
any and everything that is transported on wagons, 
drawn by horses, mules or oxen or that is driven 
before you is carried and any and everything that is 
carried or transported by hand in this country is 
toted, so it is tote me a pail of water, tote me some 
w^ood or tote these eggs to the store, or this satchel 
to the depot, &c. Many other strange and singu- 
lar terms are used, both by whites and blacks, such 
as ''sure enough.'' This expression is used when 
anything startling is related as for example : John 
Smith's house was burned last night. The person 
to whom it is related will invariably exclaim "sure 
enough," and I do not know but that the expres- 
sion is about as elegant as the Northern people do, 
*'is that so?" Agam, "done gone" is another com- 
mon expression. Ask if a man has done a certain 
vork, and if he has, the answer will be, "Yes, he 
done gone and did it," or did such a person go west? 
*^Ye5, he done gone last week. Again "that away' 



io8 FLORIDA AS IT IS 



instead of that or this way, always putting the "a" 
before the ''way," and many more seemingly ab- 
surd expressions, which no doubt originated among 
the niggers, but are now used indiscriminately 
with the whites and blacks ; there are exceptions, 
but they are few and far between, and strange to 
say people from the North fall right in and use 
these same expressions quite soon after coming 
here, 

DWELLING HOUSES. 

Dwelhng houses are mainly built of wood (yel- 
low^ pine) and are covered with cypress shingles, 
tin or boards ; the foundation is live oak blocks 
when obtainable, otherwise pine blocks. These 
blocks are pieces cut off trees from two to six feet 
long, according as you w^ant your house elevated, 
and. are set on end on top of the ground (sand) for 
the top is the solid part of the country ; these blocks 
are from a foot to two feet in diameter, these being 
placed in position the structure is then built. A 
common house or shell is made of light timber 
usually two by four inch stuff, enclosed with plank 
(inch boards) running up and down, sometimes 
stripped and very often not, a single story about 
eight feet high, the inside divided into two apart- 
ments, however usually all in one ; the roof may 
be plank, shingles or tin, according to the means 
of the 15uilder, it is a fact that there is not one roof 
in ten in Florida that turns water perfectly, no 



I 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 109 

matter of what kind of material the roof is compos- 
ed. The commoii houses have no inside finish 
whatever. This kind of a house can be built cheap- 
ly ; the lumber will cost delivered on the ground 
about thirteen dollars per thousand feet, so for 
about fifty or sevent3'-five dollars you can have a 
house of your own and then sit down under your 
own roof and contemplate on 3'our surroundings, 
and thus enjoy this splendid country, composed of 
climate, sand and some other things, but a bet- 
ter class of houses are built about as follows : 
Foundation about as above described, then a regu- 
lar frame (balloon) is made of heavier timber, 
novelty siding is used, planed and matched floor- 
ing is put in, a good shingle or tin root is put on, 
doors and windows are put in places, the inside 
divided into rooms, &c., outside painted, then it is 
readv to occupy if the party has means ; the inside 
may be ceiled with plank or lathed and plastered, 
chimneys and fire places put in and fixed up and 
furnished as you may desire, this, then is called a 
a very good house in Florida = Such a house wijl 
cost from four hundred to four thousand dollars, 
depending on just two things alone and these are 
the size of the house and the size of your moneys 
pile, then there are a few extra good houses built 
here of both wood and brick. They do have brick 
in Florida, but they are nearly all made and burn- 
ed at Atlanta, Georgia. They cost in Florida from 
leven to sixteen dollars per thousand, yet there 



no FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



are some brick houses built in the Southern part of 
the State, and quite a good many in the Northern 
part. This is just about the size of it. You can 
build just the kind of a house you may want in 
Florida as well as anywhere eLe, provided } ou 
have the money to do it with. I know of houses- 
being built here that cost from fifteen to twenty 
thousand dollars. The material out of which they 
were built was all shipped from the North. These 
kind of housts are generally put up by parties who 
have a big lot of land. A new town or orange 
groves for sale is not ahvays the case, but when 
you tind a party making a big show o( this or 
any other sort in Florida, it will be w^ell enough to 
keep an eye to windward. 

As above stated nearly all the brick used in 
Florida ai e taken there from Atlanta, Georgia. 
There are several places in the State that brick 
are made. They, ho^^ever, are very inferior on 
account c>f being too much sand in the cla}', or 
the sand not having enough of clay in it, anyhow 
the brick are worthless. It is claimed that a party 
has recently made a discovery and I believe has it 
patented, that by a certain process the}' can make 
a kind of brick or artificial stone out of this Florida 
satid. They put up the sand in blocks about the 
size of ordinary brick and witljout burning. They 
harden these blocks so that they do not crumble 
and they are just about as strong as well burned 
brick The claim is that they will stand fire anu 



FLORIDA AS IT iS. iii 



are no more subject to crumble from exposure to 
the weather than good brick. I have seen solne cf 
these blocks and to all appearance the discovery 
seems to be a good one. This party claims they 
can furnish these sand bricks or blocks at from six 
to eight dollars a thousand — a thousand of them 
will build aboiit as much Wall as twelve hundred 
common bricks. Thev further claim when the 
right kind of mortar or cement is used that the en- 
lire wall becomes solid ; they further claim they 
can make door sills, lintels, cornice, mouldings, 
etc., right out of the sand. Should this prove a 
success, it will to a great extent, revolutionize the 
building of houses in Florida and some other places 
as well. This, however, to a very great extent is 
prospective, like a great many other things here. 
The worst feature about building here, is that the 
lumber is all worked green. A log is thrown on 
the mill at one end and comes off at the other end 
in the shape of flooring, siding, moulding, etc«, as 
the case ma}- be, or rough boards or dimension 
lumber, and is taking at once and put into build- 
ings. Very ma.ny times trees that w^ere standing 
in the morning, in the evening of that same da}' 
are built in dwellings, thus you see building houses 
entirely of the greenest kind of lumber ; this being 
the case the lumber seasons in the building and 
naturally gives aWay, leaving cracks and open 
places, making bad work. The lumber is of such 
a nature that if to season before using, unless very 



112 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

carefully stacked, it warps and twists all out of 
shape and becomes so hard that it is almost im- 
possible to work it to any advantage or satisfaction, 
as it breaks and splits very easily. When green ^ 
it is soft and pliable and easily worked and bent in 
almost any shape you may want it, but when dry 
it is stiff, hard and will not, and cannot be made 
to assume any shape, but that to which it has^ 
dried. 

Yellow pine is the only kind of native lumber 
that is used for building purposes, except cypress^ 
which is too expensive on account of the difficulty 
of gttting it out of the swamps, otherwise it would 
take the place of white pine in the North, of which 
its nature partakes, in that it is soft, straight in the' 
grain and does not warp or twist in drying or seas- 
oning. Magnolia trees make good lumber, but it 
is too scarce to amount to an} thing. The live, and 
other oaks when sawed, assume all kinds of shapes 
consequently are of no account only for blocks for 

foundations. 

WELLS OF WATER. 
There is no trouble to sink a well anywhere in 
Florida, all you have to do is to difi^ a hole in the 
sand big enough so that you can work in it. After 
you get down several feet, a box three or four feet 
square without a bottom or top must be placed in 
the hole with a stout piece of scantling in each 
corner inside ; these pieces of timber should be 
from sixteen to twenty feet in length — of course thi^; 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 113 

Upper end sticks away above the hole ; this timber 
is to nail your boards to, to increase the height of 
your box, now put on a few pieces of boards so as 
to bring your box on a level with the surface of the 
land, then get inside and throw out some more 
sand ; as fast as you throw out the sand from below 
the box will sink, thus keeping your well walled 
or curbed ; when you have gone down a foot or 
so, better climb out and put more boards on your 
timbers or the sand will come in over the top of 
what is on, soon you will strike the surface water; 
this you must go through for it is fit for nothing, 
continue until you strike hard pans ; this has been 
described. You must go through this and as soon 
as you strike water below the hard pan, it is said 
to be good and wholesome. Your trouble now is 
to keep the surface water outside of your box or 
curbing. This so-called good water is found at 
tiifferent depths, say from ten to thirty feet from 
the .surface, depends if the land is high or low; in 
any and ail cases, your box or curbing must reach 
from the top to the bottom of the well or the sand 
will run in and fill it up, thus after having dug this 
hole or well to the proper depth and curbed it, the 
water settles into it sometimes to the depth of sever- 
al feet, and very often filis up above the hard pan ; 
\vhen this is the case, you must pump or draw it 
out — it may be several times, at kast until it be- 
comes clear, you can then use it, in fact you will 
be obliged to use it, simply because you can get no 



114 FLORIDA AS ITIS 



other. The only other remedy is to procure a tank 
and catch rain water, which, without ice is not 
much better. While many of the lakes, streams 
and springs atid some of the wells in Florida seem 
to have nice, clear, pellucid water in them, I have 
never had a good drink of water since I entered 
the State. The water is all warm, insipid and o( 
a brackish taste and the deeper the Well, the Warrrl' 
er the water, and if it were not that ice can be had 
at almost all the principal towns and cities at reas^ 
onable prices, say fifty cents pef hundred pounds 
wholesale, that is by agreeing to ta^e from one to 
three htitidred pounds per day. At retail, that i^ 
from five to ten pounds per day* or a chunk now 
and then, the price is from one to five cents pej^ 
pound. This ice is all made by machinery run by 
steam. The ice is made somewhat on the princi-^ 
ciple of making ice creamt the water to be frozen, 
is placed in square cans of the si^e of which the 
cake of ice is intended to be when frozen. These 
cans are placed in a large metal or wooden tank or 
vat, each can or mould being held in position by a 
frame or kind of wicker w^ork, the tank is then 
filled with a- freezing liquid or brine. There is 
another receptacle or tank in w^hich is some kind 
of chemicals, which is called the charge. This is- 
so arranged with pipes and connections running 
through and about the brine, surrounding the cans 
or ice moulds, that the whole business is set in 
motion by machinery driven by an engine that they 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



115 



turn out solid cakes of ice about every twenty-four 
hours. The capacity of these machines are from a 
few hundred pounds to many tons of ice per day, 
and their cost from about eight hundred to fifty 
thousand dolhirs, according to their capacity. 
There is said to be a small machine intended for 
famih' use, and driven by hand power, the capacity 
of which is fifteen pounds per hour and the cost of 
which is only about twenty-five dollars. I have 
not seen any of these machines, therefore cannot 
vouch for the truth of the report, if, however it be 
true, there surely is no reason why each family 
should not have the luxury. 

TAXES. 
The method of assessing or laying taxes in Flor- 
ida are rather loose and appears novel to a North- 
ern man. There is but one assessor for each 
county. He advertises to be in the difierent elect- 
tion districts on certain days — I believe two days 
each year, at a designated place in the dis- 
trict — usually at the voting place, each voter and 
property holder of personal or real estate, must re- 
port to him on one of these days all of his posses- 
sions, both personal and real, and he is provided 
with printed forms or blanks. If 3 ou own any 
lands or lots, you must give him the description 
and number of the same, also the township and 
range, block and numbers of lots, as the case ma}' 
be, all of which is a matter of record at the countv 
.seat. You are then required to fix a price on tv- 



ii6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

erything you have or own, down to your household 
goods, and certify over your signature to the truth 
of the same. All voters under fifty years of age 
in addition to the above, have to pay a poll tax of 
six dollars a year. This, I believe is applied to 
fixing and making roads and streets ; the other 
general taxes, that is State and county, are from 
one and a half to two per cent on your own valu- 
ation. Besides these taxes mentioned, the town or 
city authorities may levy and collect such other 
taxes for town and city purposes as they, in their 
wisdom, may deem necessary and these extra taxes 
often amount to much more than the regular taxes 
do. You are taxed for sanitary purposes, for po- 
lice regulations, you are taxed in the form of license 
for doing any and all kinds of business. The store- 
keeper is taxed in the form ol a license to sell 
goods, the butcher must pay thirty-five cents for 
each cow (beef) he l^ills. This I believe is called 
the brand tax, and he must report the brand to the 
marshall under penalty. The sewing machine 
man, the book agent, insurance men and nearly all 
mechanics must pay a tax in the form of a license 
to do business. The real estate man must pay 
about seventy -five dollars a year to follow his bus- 
iness, and costs the man who sells whiskey from 
six hundred to two thousand dollars a year, be- 
sides numerous fines to engage in that nefarious 
business. I have not learned if the authorities tax 
Ministers of the Gospel in the way of a license or 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 117 



not, but I rather guess that if any person escapes 
taxation or license, they do. 

• LAWYERS AND DOCTORS. 

Legal fees are high and the less you have to do 
with either profession, the better for you and your 
purse, for while Lawyers, notaries and squires' fees 
are high, doctors fees, in my judgement are extra- 
orcinar}^ high, while many of them are no doubt 
£^ood physicians and understand their business, one 
thing IS very certain, they all know^ to perfection 
the art of charging, and they invariable exercise 
that knowledge whenever opportunity offers. The 
only difference is, you can, and generally do know^ 
what a lawyer is going. to charge you, while you 
are entirely at the mercy ot a doctor. 

FEES 

Of county officials are not extravagantly high, 
not much, if any higher than they are in the North 
but township officers and Justices of the Peace are 
about double what they are in the Northern States 
for the same service. 

CONSTABLE FEES AND POWERS 
Are also very much higher and greater here than 
they are North. Constables, or as they are here 
called marshalls, have the same powers in their 
respective towns and districts, (bailiwicks) as the 
sheriff has in the county, and they are all empow^- 
ered to act as Deputy Sheriffs and receive the same 
pay and a salary besides for patrolling certain 



ii8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



1 



beats or districts. Summons in case of debt are 
seldom used, but instead thereof, a capias or war-^ 
rant is used both in civil and criminal cases, and as 
a general thing, heroic treatment is put in force by 
attachment of person or property and the cases are 
disposed of quickly, they know nothing of stay of 
execution or any other kind of stay. If they can 
be had at all, it must be by an arrangement be- 
tween the parties, either before or after judgement 
is obtained. There is no imprisonment for simple 
debt between man and man, but they do imprison 
for fines, public fees or anything pertaining to the^ 
county or State. 

HOMESTEAD LAWS. 
They do have for actual settlers or residents of 
the State. These law^s, however are vague and 
complicated and the machinery of them, so cum- 
brous and expensive that in ninety-nine cases out 
of a hundred it costs less to pay the debt than to 
take advantage of the law. The fact is that nearly 

all the 

LAWS 

Of Florida seem to have been made by and for 
thelaw}ers. All of them seem to have two sides 
and both appear to be right, and unless you have 
the clearest kind of a case, you had better settle it 
belore going before a Justice or getting into the 
court. 

MORALITY OF THE PEOPLE. 

Taking the commonw^ealth as a whole and con'^ 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 119 



sidering that this is comparatively a new country, 
that it is filling up rapidly with people of all classes 
from different parts ol the United States with a 
good sprinkling of foreigners, the people are moral 
and rather well behaved. There are some rough 
and uncouth people, it is true, but you will find 
such in all communities, particular!}^ so ^here 
society is in a formative state and composed of 
people from almost everywhere. People here are 
quick to resent an insult and some of them are hot 
blooded and will shoot pretty quickly, but a stranger 
coming here and conducting himself properly and 
in a becoming manner, is just as safe from harm as 
he is, or would be in any other place in the United 
States, and a great deal more so than he would be 
in many places I know of, however there are 
plenty of sharp men here, who will take advant- 
age of you in the wav of a trade and unless you go 
a little slow and investigate properly, these men 
will have your money, legally or otherwise, before 
3'Ou know much about them or Florida either for 
that matter. The better plan is when you go to 
Florida, say but little, especially about yourself or 
your business, keep your eyes and ears open, learn 
all you can and from whom you can. There is a 
great deal to be learned about the ins and outs of 
the country from the old negroes, both men and 
women, who have lived for years in the State and 
who, as a general thing, have no special interest 
in selling land or orange groves, and they are 



1 20 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



n-early all communicative, and you can draw from 
them much valuable information, especially about 
the quality of land, what has been raised on it and 
what can be raised and how it is done. You c?n 
then draw your own conclusions, and form your 
judgement accordingly. I know that these smart 
alex's in Florida will hoot and ridicule the idea of 
getting information from the negroes on agricultur- 
al subjects, but look for a moment, who has a bet- 
ter right or bettt-r opportunity to know than they, 
for the negros do nearly all the work of farming 
and otherwiirc and most of them are smart enough 
to know how much labor it requires to do certain 
things and they are observant and imitative too, 
and when you take them all for ignoramuses, you 
are very apt to get misled. It is true that the 
negros as a class are not smart, but there are smart 
ones among them. 

After you have learned all you can, then do not 
buy too quickly, better miss a chance or two than 
get bit or make a mistake. Remember sociablility 
as a general thing, stops short as soon as you have 
fastened up your money, and remember also that 
while there are many chances to invest and make 
money, it is not all gold that glitters, nor is it all 
Florida sand lots that will pay to invest in. 

Prices of articles that are daily used are about a& 
follows : 

Flour per barre', $7 00 ; flour per pound, fbifr cents ; ci^ru 
meal per pouud, two and one half to three cent-* ; corn grits 
per pound, two and outha'.f to three cents; oat uieal per 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 121 



pounH, three cents ; rye flour per pound, four cents ; buck 
wheat per pouud, ten ceiit^ ; salt per sick, G. A., $2.00 ; 
.^ait pt-'r bushel, G. ^, §1 00, white sugar pjr pound, ten 
cents ; browe sugar per pound, nine cents ; loaf sugar per 
pound, twenty cents; coffee (best), per pound, forty cents; 
coffee; (inferior), per pound, lifteen to thirty cents; dri^d 
peaches per p )und, (best) fifteen to thirty cents ; dried ap- 
p'es per pound' ten to twenty cents; (ii'ied blackberries per 
pound, twenty-five cents ; prunes, fifteen to twentv-five 
cents ; ca-uied fruit, dry go )ds and clothing about the same 
as in the N )rth ; chickens each, fort cents to $1.00; turkeys, 
61 50 L'> 80.OO; venis-)u per p )und, fifteen au I twenty five 
cents; quails per dozen, $1 .50 and $2 00; fresh fish per 
pouud, five to fifteen cents; eggs per dozen, twenty-five to 
fifty cjnts; Irish potatoes by the bushel, $200 to $-4 00; 
sweet potatoes per bu^he-, fifty cents to $1 00; tomatoes per 
peck, seventy five cen's to $100; snap beans per peck, 
i-eventjv five cents to $100; cow peas per peck, , fiftv to 
seventy- five cents; onions per peck, eighty cents to $1.20; 
■oranges each, two to iive cents; grape fruit each, five to ten 
cents; lemons per dozen, forty cents; binanas per bunch. 
sevt-nty five cents to $3 00; strawberries a box, (about a 
pibt), tweity-flve cents to $1.50; huckleberries per box, ten 
to twenty-five cents; pt-aches per crate, (dbout a half bnshe'} 
$ 50 to $5.00; hay per one hundred pounds. $1 25 to $2-00 
apples per barrel, (Northern). $4 00 to $G 00; corn per 
sack, two bushels, $1.40 t> $1 80; oats per sack, [fuur 
bushels) $2 10 to $2 GO; wheat per bushel, (chicken teed) 
three to four cents; wheat scr -nings, (chicken feed), two to 
three cents; lumber, rough and dimension per 1,000 fee% 
$12.00 to $14 00; flouring, plained and matched per ihuusabd 
feet, $17 00 to 5'18 00; shingles per fhousaLd feet, (cypress). 
$4,50 to $G 00; shingle, (yellow pine) per thfuisarid feet, 
$3.00 to $5 00; wood, per stran, $1 50 to $2.00; wood per 
t'Mi'd^ $3.00 th $5.00 ; beef per pound, native 5 to 15 cents; 
N')i-therii beef fier pound, 15 to 25 cent>; p<iik. l2 to 15 
cents; mutto 1, 15 to 20 cents; veal, 15 to 20 cents. Ab' ut 
the same average prices are p^id for aW }ou buy in Florida. 

LANDS. 

Nine-tenths of all the up lands in Florida ar- 



122 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 

worthless for agricultural or horticultural purposes, 
that is they are so sandy that nothing will grow on 
the land in its natural state, it however, answers as 
a good base for manure and fertilizers, and when 
properly brought up by these agents, will produce 
vegetables, fruits, and such other things as are 
described in this book. 

The value of these lands is determined much 
more by location than quality. Wild lands (unim- 
proved lands) several uiiles away from towns and 
railroads are comparatively low in price, while the 
same quality or kind of land near towns or close to 
railroads are held at enormous prices You can 
now begin to see where big money is made. Get 
ahead of the railroads, buy your land cheap, or at 
nominal figures, lay out your town, boom it up any 
way you can, induce some persons to buy lots and 
build, start a store no matter what kind of a store — 
five or ten pounds each of coffee, sugar, tobacco, 
bacon, and a little grits and flour will make a good 
outfit, you do not care if you sell these goods at a 
profit or not, that is not your point to be made. 
Your point is to get settlers, as soon as you have a 
few inhabitants you will give some railroad com- 
pany a good slice of your land just to get them to 
run their road through your lands. These railroad 
companies are quick to see where money is to be 
made ; the offer of land in sufficient quantities will 
bring a railroad or branch almost anywhere in 
Florida. Railroads are easily built here. If the 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. . 123 

company sees any money in it straightway, the 
road is built^ then the balance of your land will 
bring more than a hundred times more than you 
paid for it* You have made big money and are 
the big man of the town ; the railroad compan}^ 
has made money^ not only by running their road 
into or through your town, but have been paid the 
cost of making their road many times over by the 
sale of the land you gave them for running your 
Way, now neither you or the railroad oompany 
(especially) cares much who sticks. You do not 
care much for the end man. 

When the Northern man gets on to Florida soil, 
his first impressions are after looking about him ; 
w^ell this is Florida as it is ; the '<Land of Sunshine 
and Flowefs, The sunshine you have, that is 
here. The flowers I do not see, but I do see sand 
pure (poor) white sand. "Is all your land so 
sandy?" Oh, no I (first fib)» We have plenty of 
ihe richest black loam (2) you ever saw, and we 
raise the biggest kind of vegetable" (3). Your im- 
pressions begin to change very soon from this kind 
of tal^', but without the talk the impressions run 
in about this way : What in the world can people 
in this sandy country do for a living, certainly 
Nothing will grow on this land without first putting 
on manure or fertilizer, about as much as you can 
in any case get off it, and where is the stufl^ to 
make fertilizer of? Very little grass can grow 
■here, there is no limestone, there is no natural fer- 



124 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

lilizer, these pine leaves are no good, the fact is 
there is no soil at all, this sand seems to run clear 
to the bottom, and if left to yourself, in ninety 
cases out of one hundred you would turn away and 
leave the State in disgust, go home and report that 
Florida w^as nothing but a sandy desert or a wild- 
erness of pine barrens, lakes, ponds and swamps, 
and was not fit for any person to live in, that it 
always was the habitations of Indians and wild 
beasts and all manner of pests and 3^our opinton 
would be, that it should forever remain so, and I 
am not sure but w^iat your idea of the land and 
country is about, at least three-quarters correct. 

HEAT. 

Heat in summer, especially before the summer 
rains set in, is almost unbearable. The thermom- 
eter for weeks is high up in the nineties, frequently 
above one hundred degrees, (farenheit) during 
nearly the entire day, falling at night to about 
eighty-five degrees^ The only thing that makes 
this climate endurable at all in summer, is the 
nearly constant breeze or mild wdnd which seems 
to cool the air a little. As to hot days and cool 
nights in Florida in summer, it looks well on paper 
especially the cool nights, and when you read 
about them, in imaginatiou you feel kind of com- 
fortable, perhaps in the enjoyment of them in the 
future. Let me say right here that if there was or 
is any truth in the saying that distance lends enchant- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 12^ 



ment to the view, it certainly applies with full force 
in this case. 

This cool night business answers first-class for 
advertising, but when you come to test it, you will 
here again find that there is always some truth in 
these advertising circulars, but while there are 
ssome cool nights, you will find some very warm 
ones and a big majority ot them are uncomfortably 
hot, so much so that it is impossible to sleep on ac* 
count of the heat. If you attempt to sleep in a 
room or place where the air or breeze does not 
pass over you ; should you go to sleep at all, which 
is doubtful, you will very soon wake up with pers- 
piration oozing out at every pore ; the nights are 
hot, no use trying to disguise the fact, how can 
they be otherwise ; the thermometer up to ninety- 
eight or one hundred during nearly the entire day 
and not below eighty or eighty-five during the 
whole twenty-four hours with the ground or sand 
so hot that in five minutes your feet would be blis- 
tered were you to walk on it in your bare feet 5 
let me ask in the name of common sense, how can 
the nights be anything but hot. Now then, if you 
still have doubts about this thing, just you come to 
Orange county. I name this particular county be* 
cause it is claimed to be the banner county of the 
State and I am not sure but what it is, in fact I 
know it is if booming can make it so. Well you 
just come to Orlando, Kissimmee, Eustis or Ta- 
vares about the middle of June and try it, be sure 



126 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



and get a room where the wind does not blow oil 
you. You better be sure and have a mosquito baf 
over you, and a good one too, or 3'ou will hardly 
know where to place the blame of your not sleep- 
ing. You might possibly think that fighting the 
mosquitos had made you uncomfortably warm. 
After you have made this experiment, I rather 
think you will agree with me that they do have hot 
nights in Florida, sure enough ! And you will 
probabl}^ exclaim ?s one of old, *' surely the half 
has not been told I " I might add right here that 
Orange county and particularly the places named 
above, have fewer mosquitos and other pests than 
any other part of the State. This may be so, (I 
do not believe it), but if these are the good places, 
1 do not think you will ever care to visit the other 
places ; you will be thoroughly satisfied in a short 
time that they do have hot days and nights, mos- 
qaitos and pests in abundance in Orange county^ 
Florida, and if there is the garden spot (there are 
other places just the same in every respect) and 
comparatively clear of pests, what must the rest of 
the State be. 

TOWNS AND CITIES. 
Jacksonville, Duval county, is the metropolis or 
grand ENTRE pot of the State. It is to Florida 
about what Philadelphia is t;0 Penns3'lvaniav As 
nearly as I can ascertain it has a population oi 
about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. In the: 
winter season the population is much larger. Al) 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 127 

the railroads of the ^outh centre here ; no matter 
where you wish to go in Florida, you will prob- 
ably start from Jacksonville. It also has water 
communications by the way of the mouth of St. 
John River, connecting with the Atlantic Ocean, 
distance about thirteen miles ; also water communi- 
cation with the interior of the State by the St. Johns 
and Ocklawaha rivers. Steamers, ships and water 
craft of all shapes and sizes line her wharves Irom 
all countries and nations. To say the least of 
Jacksonville, she is a busy, bustling little city with 
street cars, electric lights, manufacturies, and all 
kinds of business in full blast. A great many of 
her business men are from the North, with a good 
sprinkling of foreigners, Jews and a few natives. 
Goods aud merchandise of almost every description 
can be bought in Jacksonville almost as cheaply 
as in the Northern cities, provided you happen to 
strike the right parties, but there are plenty of 
sharpers there as there are in all other large places 
and it is well enough for strangers to be on their 
guard while in Jacksonville, especially after night. 
Many a man has been heard of last in that city, 
although it is no worse in that respect or do I think 
it is as bad as some other cities much farther up 
North, 

TALLAHASSEE 

Is the captal ot the State. If the public build- 
ing and the public business were removed from 
Tallahassee, there would not be very much left. 



128 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



GAINESVILLE 

Is quite a neat little city and has a good deal of 
push and vim. It is the county seat of Alachua 
county and is said to contain about eight thousand 
inhabitants. This town has some as fine buildings 
as there are in the State, many of which are built 
of brick. 

OCALA 
Is the county seat of Marion county. It is rath- 
er an eld town not more than half as large as 
Gainesville, which is perhaps the wealthiest town 
in the State of her size or according to her popu- 
lation. Pensacola, Apalachicola, Cedar Keys, 
Key West, Tampa, Bartow and many others are 
towns of some note here and are much more no- 
torious in the North than they are when you are in 
them. 

ORLANDO 
Is the county seat of Orange county ; now claims 
our attention. This town or cit}', if we can believe 
the citizens thereof, especially the real estate men, 
is almost an Eden, but taking the facts as they are 
Orange county is about eighty miles long North 
and South, and about fifty miles wide. East and 
West ; it's shape is amorphus, being very irregular ; 
I cannot give figures that are reliable about it& 
population, therefore will not venture a guess. 
There are several good sized and growing towns in 
the county. Eustis, Tavares, Sanford, Maitland. 
Winter Park, Apopka City, Wildwood, Zellwood.. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 129 

Ocoee, Gotha, Longwood, Pine Castle, and last 
but not least by any means, is Kissimmee City, 
located on the boarders of Tohopekaliga Lake and 
claims a population of twelve hundred inhabitants, 
but now again to Orlando. It, a very few years 
ago, was but a sorry little village, notwithstanding 
it was a county seat, six or seven years ago a few 
smart enterprising men seeing the situation bought 
up quite a body of land in the village and vicinity 
and began to boom (advertise) the town ; their 
venture proved a success financially and otherwise 
and now Orlando is second to" none in the State for 
its growth, and the amount of business it does, for 
its size, and bids fair in a few 3'ears to outstrip all 
other towns in the State, Jacksonville alone except- 
ed. Many new and apparently thriving towns 
have sprung up within the last three or four years 
and where the wild beasts and Indians used to roam 
now the shriek and whistle of the locomotive is 
heard ; you naturally ask what has made all this 
change? The answer is, speculation and specu- 
tion only, advertising and booming by speculators. 
BOOMING, 
Booming as I understand it, and as it is, is to 
talk up the place, write and advertise it all over 
ihe country, tell all the good you know about it, 
be very particular to write or say nothing bad 
about it, but tell what has been and can be done ; 
in telling about what can be done, here you can 
draw on your imagination to almost any extent and 



ISO FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

not be blamed for Iving, perhaps I should have 
said prevarication, as that term is not quite so harsh 
but I think the first word is the better one in this 
case, and when they tell you of how much some 
person has made since they came to Florida, they 
always get the figures as big as possible ; the 
people living outside of the State do not know if 
you are telling or advertising the truth or not ; say 
nothing about the mosquitos, sand, flies, fleas, red 
bugs, bad water or anything about any of the pests 
that abound all over the State. Should the boom- 
ers be asked or written to about these things, the 
answer must, and will be evasive or something 
like the people of Ohio said about the milk sick- 
ness, it was always over in the next county ; you 
could never get to the place where it would actual- 
ly be acknowledged. They are in the State, but 
principally along the coast or down in the big cy- 
press swamps where no person lives anyhow, or 
any other place than the particular place you are 
writing or talking about but they must be mighty 
scarce about it, and if it should so happen that 
some man should chance to raise some new seed- 
ling fruit or berr}^ be ita peach, orange or a straw- 
berry that has been pushed and nurtured into pro- 
ducing a fair fruit, then take hold of that, have it 
published in all the papers far and near, have cir- 
culars printed and sown broadcast all over the land, 
make this particular thing, fruit or whatever it may 
be, fully as large as it really is, and if they succeed 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 131 



m fully describing it. draw a litde on the imacrin- 
ation and be sure to figure it out so as to show how 
immensely profitable it will be. that is, it will sell 
for so much per quart or bushel^ as the case may 
be, but never say a word about the care it must 
have or the costs of raising the fruits or berries, 
and as 3^ou are doing this all principally through 
st^ewspapers and circulars, there is not much danger 
ot people asking questions about the cost of pro- 
duction, taking for granted that it is a natural thing 
for such a fruit or berry to grow that way in Flor- 
ida, show also by circulars and otherwise that the 
price of lands, lots, etc., double in value about 
€very three months, in no case make it^ver ayear ; 
this is booming sure enough ! 

There are many towns hi the State, most of 
w^hich are thriving, just in the proportion to the 
way they are boomed. A descriptiota of one boom 
is sufficient foi' all^ so you see that booming and 
speculation go hand in hand. 

Nearly all the newtowfis in the State are started 
as above described and very many of the older 
tow^ns are given a "tresk start by the same process. 
When adjoining lands can be had in large quan- 
tities, take {gt example St Augustine, (Augusteen) 
this town is said to be, and I believe is the oMest 
town in the United States, but until very recently 
was not nmch more than a mere barracKS on the 
sandy coast, but a few^ years ago speculators with 
capita] took hold of the 'old town, bought adjoinint? 



132 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

lands and went to booming the town and now the 
place is quite a city, and the surrounding lands 
that even four or five years ago were comparative- 
ly worthless, sell for hundreds, and in some cases 
for thousands of dollars per acre, not because it is 
valuable for producing anything, for it is as poor 
as poverty itself, but simply because it is near St, 
Augustine. 

Hundreds of persons are thus making money in 
Florida, and the more money you have to start 
with the more you can make, provided your specu- 
lations turn out favorably to you. Here again I 
will say, that with very few exceptions the man 
who has but little or no ready cash, can do much 
better almost any other place than in Florida. 

Now because I have not mentioned or named 
other towns, the reader must not think that there 
are no other towns in the State for there are hun- 
dreds of them and some not mentioned are larger 
and perhaps much better than some that are named 
To write them up separately with their history and 
growth, with their advantages, (if they have any) 
and their disadvantages, would make a volume or 
book of such a si^e that it would be too cumbrous 
to handle, besides such a work would be very 
tedious and entirely too prosy to read, for when 
you know the history and booming of one town, 
city or place, it will fit to all of them with very lit- 
tle variation — very few exceptions to this as a rule* 
Towns and cities seem to take root and grow here 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 133 



about as well, if not better than anything else I 
know of, particularl}^ for the first fev\' years of their 
existence, especially if they are well fertilized with 
proper booming. This is about the only fertilizer 
that I know of that will cause towns and cities to 
grow, and if it is properly applied, it and it alone 
will pay the purchaser thereof. Here again how- 
ever, look out and do not be the end man or you 
will get left. 

NEWS PAPERS e 
Newspapers are numerous here, the fact is it is 
almost impossible to boom a town or place without 
the printing press, and as it is much cheaper to buy 
a printing press and hire a printer than to pay for 
the necessary amount of printing needed in the 
enterprise ; about the first thing in a new town is a 
so-called newspaper generally owned by the com- 
pany and apparently .managed by one man; the 
profits from the paper at first is nothing, the ex- 
penses however, are not very heavy ; as soon as 
people begin to come to the place and invest, start 
up little stores and embark in such business as 
must necessarily follow the people ; advertising is 
resorted to, and when you put an advertisement in a 
paper in Florida, you will find the price something 
like the doctor's bills, however it must go in, thus 
the paper soon pays the expenses of running it and 
thus the company gets their advertising for com- 
paratively nothing, and can print what they please 
and can draw it mild or strong to suit the occasion. 



134 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

The subscription price of newspapers here are not 
any more than in the North. 

You will notice that a great many things that ap- 
pear in the papers as local matter on close inspec- 
tion look like advertisements, for example nearly 
all the newspapers note the transfers of lands tak- 
ing place w^eekly ; some of these are noted as tak- 
ing place on certain days, when the facts are the 
transfer had been made several months before and 
been so noted at the time. These things are of 
more frequent occurrence in the summer season, 
which is the dull time, but something must be done 
to make the people abroad believe that the busi- 
ness is booming in Florida the whole year around* 
This has its effect in inducing people to come here 
and who ever comes, it makes business for some 
person — the liveryman, the hotel and boarding 
house keeper, real estate men and the railroads. 
This again makes items for the newspapers and 
tthus it goes on adinfinitum ; again when a certain 
fruit or vegetable has been grown of rather an un- 
usual size, flavor or quality, advertisements in the 
form of local matter appears in all the papers far 
and near and many times repeated in even the 
same paper ; the attention of the whole State and 
the United States, so far as they can be reached, 
is called to this particular thing when the article in 
itself nearly always proves to be but very common 
in the end. 

Just now the Bidwell peach is the fruit that is 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 135 



going to revolutionize the fruit business in Florida. 
It is said they ripen about the first of June — some 
two weeks earlier than any other, and are said to 
be of superior flavor and quality ; a few of this 
variety were sent to New York market this season 
for the first time, and were sold at the rate of 27 
dollars per bushel, (a good price for peaches) sure 
enough ! It is not said how many peaches were 
Sent to the New York market, or is it necessary, 
but the probabilities are that there were but few, 
the language least implies that, when closely scan- 
ned, we notice they were sold at the rate of twenty- 
seven dollars per bushel. Now even this, although 
they are making such a blow about it, is not much 
better than raising strawberries, and selling them 
at home here for a dollar and a quarter a box, or 
sending them to the Eastern marKets at the rate of 
forty or fifty dollars a bushel. These things have 
been done tune and again. The only wonder to 
to me is that the peaches did not bring a larger 
price in New York, lor there are a good many 
people interested in the sale of Florida lands and 
town lots who live in that big city, and yet I have 
the first man or woman to see who got rich or made 
money in this State by raising and selling straw- 
berries and peaches. Another good quality of this 
Bidwell peach is that it bears fruit the third year 
from planting. I have not been able to learn if 
this means from the pit or bud. About the whole 
thing is, some person has a big lot of peach trees 



136 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 



for sale ; this kind only grows on Florida soil, and 
some person else has a big lot of that kind of soil 
for sale they : thus, as it were, splice teams and 
boom this particular peach for a particular purpose^ 
knowing that there are a great many people in the 
North who have money to inve.^t and this looks as 
if there was big money it, they go to Florida, in- 
vest in land, buy the tree.<, plant their orchard^r 
and await results. The tree raiser and the land 
man have m?de their points and unless } ou sell 
your peach orchard while the boom is up, you will 
likely be the tnd man, and in an}- case some per-- 
son will be the end man ; so this business goes on<f 
if not one thing it is another. It may be beans, 
tomatoes, peaches, cocoanuts. pine apples, oranges, 
bananas, cucumbers, melons or indeed almost any- 
thing to entice people to part with their money, 

N. B. — I have just learned from a reliable nurs- 
eryman, that the Bidwell peach is a seedling cross ot 
the Peento and honey peach, and is a better peach 
than either of the other two, and it ought, to be 
worth anything. 

HEALTH. 

From general reports and published accounts in 
Newspapers, particularly by those interested in 
Florida, the State is a paradise and a sure restorer 
of health to invalids of wc may say the entire out- 
side of the world, and all who are sick or have anv 
kird of ailment, all ihey have to do, is to get into 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 137 

the general climate of Florida ; it is a panacea for 
all the ills that human flesh is heir to, and when 
3 ou get under its influence straightway, you be- 
come hale and hearty, and will add to your days 
many 3'^ears« The facts in the case, however do 
uot warrant the assertions. A large proportion of 
the natives (wdiite) are lean and do not look healthy 
and the women particularly are, to say the least of 
it, delicate and a large percentage of the people 
who Lave came to Florida, have some ailment and 
are here for their health. The result is 3'ou see 
but comparatively few^ stout and healthy looking 
people : about all the healthy looking people 3'ou 
do see here are those who came from other States 
with plenty of money in their pockets, either to see 
sights, speculate or both, and very few of these re- 
main the entire season. They come in the fall of 
the year and return in the spring, thus enjoying 
the pleasant winter here, and the summers at some 
cool watering place or summer resort in the North, 
Now with regard to the sanitary condition of things 
here, according to my judgement and observation 
about the only persons who receive benefit in health 
by coming to Florida, are those who are afflicted 
with pulmonary or asthmatic diseases persons 
having incipient or consumption in the first stao-es, 
and before the disease has taken a firm hold, may 
be benefited b^' spending a winter here, and thus 
avoid the extreme cold winter of the North, but for 
•any other kind of disease, almost any other place 



138 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

IS about as good as Florida. Nine-tenths of the 
people who come here for their health, for all the 
benefit they receive might just as well remain at 
home and thus save their time and money » 
DISEASES IN FLORIDA, 
There are no special or prevalent fatal diseases 
here, there is, however, a kind of low type of fever 
that prevails to a considerable extent all over the 
State, that in almost any other place or State would 
be named or called malarial lever, (but they have 
no malaria m Florida ) People here take cold 
just about as readily and as easily as in most other 
places, and they sometimes get pretty sick and 
have to send for a doctor. This in almost any 
other place or State would be called pneumonia , 
(but they do not have any pneumonia here either.) 
Many of the inhabitants here frequently get what 
they call hot and cold spells and sometimes they 
shake a little too,— for these spells they use qui- 
nine. This disease anywhere else would be called 
chills and fevers, but they do not have any ague in 
Florida ; nobody ever heard of a case in the whole 
State, and while the weather is very hot, nearly 
every person will tell you there never has been a 
sun stroke known to occur in the State, noth with- 
standing there has been numerous deaths from 
what is called nervous prostration, the symptons of 
which are identical with those of sun stroke. There 
are frequent cases of small pox and sometimes it 
assumes the form of an epidemic, and is just as 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 139 

fatal as elsewhere. Measels, whooping cough and 
all the diseases that children and even grown 
people are subject to, are here, and I cannot see 
that there is much, if any difference in this respect 
from other States and places. Yellow fever has 
been in the State a number of times, and so has 
cholera. It is barely possible that many of the 
diseases here do not assume so malignant a form as 
they do in some other places, but after all is said 
about the diseases here that can be said, people do 
die here and of about the same diseases that they 
die of in other places, but to say that Florida has 
about the same diseases that other parts of the 
country has, detracts very much from her reputation 
as a health resort. The facts are that Florida is a 
good winter resort and w^hen that is said it is near- 
ly all that can be truthfully said about the State. 

You will find out, it you do not already know it, 
that everything here is magnified several or more 
times. The transient visitor generally has these 
magnifying glasses fixed on his eyes before coming 
here and hardly ever stays long enough in the 
State to get them off. He therefore sees only one 
side of the picture and that always the bright side 
particularly if he has plenty of money, but let him 
settle down among the people and become one of 
them (as it were,) the glass and glamour soon 
wears off and the realities begin to appear, and the 
longer he remains the more he finds out, and when 
the magnifying glasses are entirely removed, then. 



140 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



and not until then can he see "Florida as it is." 
The wonder to me is that a book similar to this 
one has not been written long since. The only 
reason I can give is about like this : That parties 
become interested in speculation and as many of 
them have been to a certain extent taken in (so to 
speak) and on the principal that misery loves 
company and perhaps with a view that somethin£[- 
will turn up by which they can better their con- 
dition in the end. This is the only reason that 
seems to be plausible that "Florida as it is" or 
something that would give the people of the whole 
country the true light on this subject has not been 
written. 

SAND OR FLORIDA ITCH. 
This is something seldomly heard of outside of 
the State and the people or inhabitants say very 
little about it. You know itch is a kind of disease 
or disorder that is not very popular anyhow,' and 
persons who are afflicted with it, will not say much 
about it. This disease is not at all fatal or does it 
seem to be contagious, but it is very disagreeable 
to have. What produces this itch I do not know ; 
it may be the sand (and I think it is), which is as 
fine as emery that gets into the pores of the skin, 
or it may be the climate, heat and sand combined 
produces it, one thing is certain, very few people 
escape it, especially those w^ho remain during the 
summer. You hear nothing of it in the winter 
season. 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 141 



There is also something in either the soil (sand) 
or climate that causes any little scratch or hurt that 
you may get, and very often without, to become 
sore and very much inflamed, and unless proper 
remedies are applied at once, cause a good deal of 
pain and suff'ering. What this is I have not been 
able to find out from any person ; if the doctors 
know they will not tell, and now when you come 
to put these things all together and begin to ana- 
lyze, it does seem rather strange that, from some 
cause or causes, will and does cause eruptions and 
breaking out and causes sores and boils all over 
the surface of the body. That these causes should 
or would cure and make healthy the internal or- 
gans when diseased, this is a question that I will 
leave for the reader to figure out. This, however 
inconsistent it may appear, is claimed for this Flor- 
ida climate or something else. This is not a whit 
more inconsistent than scores of other things that 
are claimed for this '^Land of Sunshine and Flow- 
ers," but as before stated, Florida has a climate 
peculiarly her own, hence these seeming incon- 
sistencies ; you will understand these things much 
better after a residence of a year or two in the 
aforesaid climate, and particularly so, should you 
have the Florida itch and attempt to sleep with the 
thermometer at ninety, at 9 o'clock at night and no 
breeze blowing and surrounded by a cloud of mos- 
quitos, each one presenting his bill and singing at 
your ears, "blood, blood." 



142 FLORIDA A S IT IS. 

RAILROADS. 

The principal of which is the Florida Railway 
and Navigation Company. Their system of roads 
extend nearly all over the State ; their track is 
standard guage. I believe all the other roads in 
the State are narrow guage except the T. O. & A., 
which is an extension of the F. R. & N., but own- 
ed by a different company. The Jacksonville, 
Tampa and Key West, and South F lorida Rail- 
way companies have their roads completed and cars 
running nearly the entire length of the State North 
and South. The tracks on these roads are all 
narrow guage. The Florida Southern also has a 
road in running order from Jacksonville to Cedar 
Keys. There are quite a number of short roads 
and many now building, most of wiiich are narrow 
guage ; I presume however, that inside of a year 
or two at least, all the principal jailroads in the 
State will be changed to standard guage. It is an 
easy matter to build a railroad in Florida : no 
rock to blow and remove, no big cuts or big fills, 
no tunnels to bore and very few bridges to build — 
all that is to be done is to get tw^o or three dozen 
or more Italians (alw^ays to be had) and have them 
shovel up a road of sand, level off the top, put 
down the ties, put on the rails and rolling stock, 
and then charge five cents a mile for passengers 
aud from two to five cents per hundred pounds per 
mile for freight. This does not look like specu- 
lation, does it? It does look a good deal like ex- 
tortion though, don't it ? Where two railroads come 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 143 



Into competition, rates are more reasonable, but 

still much higher than in the Norths 

WHAT WE EAT, AND WHERE WE GET IT, 

The inhabitants of Florida are a good deal like 
other people concerning their diet. They are just 
as fond of good eatables as any person else, but 
the best thin^js cannot always be had, they there- 
fore eat what ever they have and get it wherever 
they can. They generally haVe plenty of Florida 
beef, and some Florida pork ; they usually haVe 
plenty of sweet potatoes (hot always) and some 
Irish potatoes (in season) ; they have snap beans, 
toW peSiS, cucumbers, tomatoes, water and mush 
melons, turnips, some cabbage, and a few other 
vegetables , they also have oranges and guavas 
plenty when they dont freeze ; a few lemons, banan- 
as, pine apples, some strawberries, and few other 
fruits and berries in certain localities. These thing-s 
are produced at home. 

Wheat, flour, corn meal, corn grits, ham, bacon, 
apples, and nearly all the substantials of life they 
eat, but all these things niust come from abroad. 
They also eat dried frUits, jams, jellies, canned 
fruits and me^ts. These are all imported. Good 
butter cannot be had here ; the natives butter is lit- 
tle, if any better than grease, and by the time 
Northern butter gets down here, it is not much bet- 
ter. The native beef during the greater part of the 
year is very poor, and to ship Northern beef here 
either on the hoof or in quarters, is kind of sorry 



144 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



meat too. 

Now as to Florida betf. To have it, all that is to 
be done is to l^ill a cow, no matter in ^vhat con- 
dition, whether fat or poor, when cut up it is Flor- 
ida beef. I have seen plenty of cows (cattle) kill- 
ed here and ate that in the North would have been 
called very poor stock cattle. The cattle that are 
killed for beef are not all of this class, but in the 
winter and spring very many are quite poor ; in the 
summer and fall they are in better condition, and I 
have seen them so fat that there was some signs of 
tallow on the kidneys. The native pork is much 
better than the beef, and yet I have seen hogs 
killed here for pork that there was not enough ot"^ 
lard in them tn fry them ; these however are the 
exceptions. There are some fine t^at little hogs here 
and they make rather nice eating, (if you don't like 
the fat little hog you may read it, the little fat hog. 
As to the vegetables grown here, very few of 
them are first-class. They nearty all have a tough- 
ness about them, the cabbage particularly so. The 
tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, radishes, &c., have 
none of that crispness about them that first-class 
vegetables have ; even the watermelons have a 
soggy appearance and taste. Oranges are good, 
first-class than which I suppose none better in the 
known world. Bananas, what few are raised here 
are a fair quality : so are the pine apples. Sweet 
potatoes are only fair, more like yams in th^^ 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 145 



North. Irish potatoes, as a general crop, are not 
a success either in quantity or qualit}' , Nearly ail 
the lard and butter used in the State, is shipped 
here Irom the North, and you can form some kind 
of an idea of the condition it is in when it reaches 
our market and remains sometimes for weeks in a 
temperature wdth the thermom.eter up in the nineties 
As to light bread, ycu seldom see it ; a kind of bread 
called light, (that is it is light in weight) is made 
and sold by the bakers — hot bread in the shape 
ot biscuits three times a day or as often as you eat, 
Florida beef, corn grits, condensed milk and butter- 
in e wdth either sweet or Irish potatoes and coffee or 
tea is the usual meal ; sometimes the meat is omit- 
ted at breakfast when fish (mullet) takes the place 
thereof. Sometimes this bill of fare is varied for 
supper or dinner for that matter, and you will make 
a right good meal on bologna sausage, cold bis- 
cuits or crackers, using for drink pure c — ; I al- 
most wrote cold lake w^ater, and sometimes you will 
get something that is real palatable in the shape of 
a boned catfish, stuffed opossum or roast of venison 
the fact of this whole business is, the native Flori- 
dian and for that matter all who are in the State, 
eat whatever they have that is eatable and gets it 
wherever they can. They get it honestly if possible 
to do so, but they all get a living somehow^ As a 
general thing all the butters, jellies, jams and 
ilainties are missing here ; there is one production 
ihat there is a good deal of noise about here. 



H6 FLORID A AS IT IS. 

^ THE CASAVA PLANT, "" " 

A root from which tapioca is made, I think 
perhaps this is like many other things here, for I 
have made diligent search and inquiry to find out 
where and how it grows, and have thus far en^ 
tirely failed to see any of it, or any person that has 
seen it, yet it may be growing somewhere in the 
State and some day may be profitable, who knows f 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 

Speaking generally, the soil of Florida is of a 
poor kind of quality. There is not one acre in 
twenty, and I doubt if there is one in a hUhdred 
that will pay to cultivate in anything at all without 
fertilizer, except the reclaimed marsh lands. Every- 
thing you plant, (sweet potatoes excepted) must be 
fertilized, and it does not hurt the sweet potatoes to 
fertilize them a litde if you would get a good crop, 
and unless you do fertilize you will get no crop, 
and with all the care, cultivation aiid cost, the 
best thing you can do your crop when raised will 
sell for very little, if any more than it cost to raise 
jt, in any case it will not anymore than pay for 
your labor and attention, besides the cost of raising 
as before stated. There is nothing made here in 
either agricultural or horticultural pursuits, and" 
nearly all of that kind ot work that is done in the 
State is done in small patches and lots, if nursed, 
fed and fertilized all it will bear or take up, then it 
may be only a patch fifteen or twenty feet square 
that has received the very best attention and has 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 14 7 

produced a big crop for the size of the place, now 
an estimate is made on what can be grown on an 
acre, but nothing is said about the care, attention, 
&c., thus leaving people at a distance under the 
impression that by ordinary cultivation such crops 
can be raised almost anywhere in the State, when 
the facts are that by ordinary cultivation nothing 
at all can be raised ; why the land is so poor in 
many places that even weeds will not grow. 

FERTILIZER. 

Nearly everything here is utilized for fertilizer, 
and any and everything in the shape of manures 
and droppings of man, beast and fowls are utilized. 
A very good way to fertilize a small plot of 
ground, is to fence it, then have some person 
that has a small heard of cattle or a bunch of hogs, 
pen them in this lot, (this is called cowpenning 
land.) If you can keep the stock on long enough 
they will fertilize it so that vegetables and even a 
little corn will grow on it. Men or parties who 
have a large bunch of cattle proceed in this way to 
prepare their lands for orange groves, and has 
proved to be a success in more cases than one. If 
you have to hire your cowpenning, it will cost you 
about one dollar per month per head, then the cat- 
tle are penned every night. 

Another way is to gather all the cow chips (drop- 
pings) or buy them ; they sell for about fifty cents 
a barrel ; pulverize or have them pulverized, and 
apply on the surface of the ground- Horse manure 



148 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



is much used for early vegetables ; bones are gath- 
ered up, broken, ground or burned, and then ap- 
plied as a top dressing ; the contents of outhouses^ 
sinks, slops, refused meats, fish offalls, anything 
that has, or seems to have any fertilizing proper- 
ties in them, are all thrown on the compost heap 
or pile and afterwards used as fertilizer. After 
consuming all the domestic fertilizer that can be 
had, then if the parties have any m.oney they buy 
commercial fertilizer Man}^ haul muck from the 
swamps or muckbeds when not too far off, this, 
however is of doubtful utility, while it doubtless im- 
proves the quality of the soil, it generally costs 
more than it comes to. Fertilizing is the key note 
to the raising of all the fruits and vegetables of 
Florida, and without it nothing of any account can 
be raised. It must be applied several times a year 
and that abundantly and without stint. All the 
yarns and stories to the contrarv notwithstand- 
ing. 

CHURCHES, 
There are church organizations in nearly all the 
towns and many of them have several church or- 
ganizations. The colored people also have churches 
in nearly, if not all the places that the whites 
have. The negros and whites never worship to- 
gether in the same church. The Methodists seem 
to predominate ; the Presbtyerians and Baptists 
seem to be about alike in numercial strength ; there 
are some Episcopalians and a good many Catho- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 149 



lies. The negroes are divided between the Metho- 
dist and Baptists, It rather seems to be fashionable 
to belong to a church, and in a great many in- 
stances that I know of church members prostitute 
the church or use their membership for quite an- 
other purpose than it was intended- .A few of the 
worst scalawags that the writer knows of are 
church members who partook of the Holy Sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper on Sunday morning, 
took parties in the afternoon of the same day to 
show and try to sell them land, and who, on the 
following week did arrange a villainous scheme to 
beat a party out of a large sum of money and he 
succeeded in the scheme to a very considerable ex- 
tent. Another case, that of a local preacher on a 
certain Sabbath morning took a party to see a lot 
arranged, then went straight to church and into 
the pulpit and preached a sermon. Many other 
such tricks of a similar character are of almost 
daily occurrence, and it is not much thought of, 
only accounted rather smart. These things are al- 
ways done in such a way that there is not much 
chance for the party that gets beaten, the laws are 
such that a man can do almost anything he has a 
mind to in Florida ; if he has a little money he 
need have no particular fear of getting Into trouble, 
or if he does get into trouble, his money will get 
him out. 

One day in riding in the cars on the South Flor- 
ida Railroad, in conversation with a gentleman 



i^o FLOklDA AS IT IS 



who liad lived in the State for a considerable length 
of time, and who Was then living there and fof 
all I know is living in the State yet; In the course 
of our conversation he reniarked that there was 
more solid lying done In Florida to the square foot 
of land than in any other country or State that he 
knows of. I did not know then whether to believe 
him or not, but since livhig here for sotlie time and 
doing business with the people, 1 am satisfied that 
he spoke the trudi, and might have made it strong- 
er yet, and still been within bounds, and yet tht^ 
lying is dotie in such a way that at the time you 
cannot tell or detect it. It is done by magnifying 
everything and drawing on the imagination td 
complete the picture, and by taking sttiall plots 
and magnifying them into aCres, as for example 
a certain man raised so many quail of strawberries 
on a square rod of ground, it having the best of 
cultivation, attention and fertili^^ation, such as 
could not have been given to even an acre of 
ground, much less five or ten acres ', th^ yield oii 
the small plot was immense of course, it beiiig all 
got up for an advertisement. Well, this small plot 
will be mairnified in a verv short space ot time td 
perhaps twenty acres, and the yield perhaps in- 
creased a little, and possibly directly you will be 
told that the man raised this crop the first year, 
after clearing wild land and that he gave it no 
special attention either. You do not know and 
have no means of knowing whether it is true of 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 151 

not, and just as li'^ely as not the very fellow who 
has told you all this stufl is an actual active 
church member, or in other words a wolf in sheep's 
clothing. I don't wish the reader to understand 
that I am finding fault with the church for I revere 
and love it ; I am only trying to show you a cer- 
tain class of men who are using the church to ac- 
complish their nefarious ends, and do not under- 
stand me to say or mean that all the man or mem- 
bers of churches in Florida are of this class, very 
far from it, you will find just as honorable and 
square men here to deal with as you will find an}^- 
where, both in and out of church, but being fore- 
warned ou^ht to be forearmed ; do not invest too 
quickly and do not bestow your confidence without 
some previous knowledge. 

Another way of exaggerating is about like this, 
a man has a piece or tract of land for sale, he may 
want to sell ever so badly, he will probably tell 
you here is a tract of land for which he has refused 
so much money ; now this may be so. In this way 
he and some person else may have or has an un- 
derstanding that he shall help to sell the land and 
get so much when the sale is completed. In your 
travels you will probably almost certainly run 
across or meet the man who made the offer for the 
land. It having been previously arranged, but he 
he has now bought, but if he had not he would 
still give that amount for it , this all looks right 
and square, and if you do not watch mighty closelv 



152 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

and sharply, you will be caught right there by this 
process of lying. 

There are various wa}- s of telling things so that 
they resemble the truth, and having some truth 
mixed into the story, and the speaker being a 
church member or a member of some order that 
you know something about and seeming to be all 
straight who will brother you, and nearly every 
person he meets, that a g^reat wonder will be, if 
you are not deceived, A man may be a real estate 
man in Florida and be a christian, but let me say 
right here, it takes a good deal of grace and close 
watching to go straight in that business and there 
is generally more or less room to suspect a man's 
Christianity. When you find him engaged in the 
land business in a new country at least it will do 
no harm to watch him. Notwithstanding all that 
has been said and written, there are men in the 
land business in Florida, some of whom belong ta 
the church and other societies^ and others who do 
not, who will tell you about as nearly the truth as 
they know or understand it, and whose judgement 
can be taken everytime and money made by it, 
then there are others and plenty of them that 3'ou 
cannot believe one word they say, and who will 
fleece you every time they get a chance, some of 
which I could name, but I reckon I will let you do 
as I did, find out for yourself Land agents in all 
newly developing countries are a necessity, but 
land sharks are of no use to any person but an in- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 153 

jury to the business and the community in which 
they operate. 

PROFANITY. 

A large majority of the men, both white and 
black use cuss words, when and where they 
seem to be unnecessary and out of place, at least 
in a Community that claims to be moral. Some of 
the native women and som.e that are not natives, 
can sw^ear right smart too, notwithstanding all this, 
there are Sunday Schools in nearly all the churches 
with a full corps of officers. You also find a band 
of hope in nearly all places where there is a church 
and generally a Womian's Christian Temperance 
Union. These are all located in the towns and 
cities. You know, or at least I do, that the rural 
districts, are now, to a certain extent uninhabited, 
and I guess always will be. Wherever you see a 
half dozen houses and sometimes not more than 
one or two, the place is called a town, city, park, 
^sola or something that means a great deal more 
than it is. 

PROHIBITION. 

There is quite a strong prohibition element in 
Florida among both whites and blacks. The law 
on the license business is such that the party ap- 
plying for license to sell strong drinks and make 
people drunk, must have as signers to his petition 
majority of all the legal voters in the district where 
he proposes to sell, and any and every town, city, 
district or county has the right to vote once a j'ear. 



154 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

whether license shall be granted in said place or 
not. Should license be granted in any case the 
said license will cost the parties in no case, less 
than five hundred dollars and may cost that many 
thousand. As I understand it, these licenses con- 
sist of three parts. First, the State license; sec- 
ond the district or county license, then the city or 
town license, the State and county license com- 
bined is three hundred dollars in all cases. The 
city or town license may be only tw^o hundred dol- 
lars, no less by the statute, but the city or town au- 
thorities may by law, make the license as much 
higher as they choose and in a number of cases they 
make it so high that it almost amounts to total pro- 
hibition. The fine for selling strong drinks contra- 
ry to law is heavy, and the law is enforced about 
as well as any other law in the State and my ob- 
servation is that all laws, particularly such as have 
a fine connected with them, are rigidly enforced, 
and in many cases summarily, I account for this 
in this way : That all the laws, or nearly so, that 
have a fine in money attached, the informant gets 
half the fine ; this being the case, it is a source of 
money making, and as there are a good many 
people in Florida who are too lazy to work, they 
w^atch the misdoings of others and make it profit- 
able. 

KITCHEN HELP, WASHING, &C. 
Florida is a hard place for women to live in, 
unless their circumstances are such that they are 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 155 

fiot obliged to work, The labor of cooking, wash- 
ing and doing general house work, is much more 
laborious and fatigueing than in the North. The 
exreme natural heat in connection with lires neces- 
sary to do much of the household work, makes the 
labor almost unendurable and the very great dif- 
ticully of getting efficient help in the house, and 
enormous prices you must pay for it, puts it beyond 
the reach of people in ordinary, or even moderate 
circumstances, and should you be able to obtain 
help at all, they (the help) must superintend or 
boss the kitchen and on the least provocation, and 
sometimes without iany at all, they will leave you. 
Ordinarv kitchen work, sUCh as cooking, washing 
dishes, etc., will cost from four to ten dollars per 
week, then you must furnish a separate room and 
board the party, and with all the watching you 
can do, they will take aWay (steal) fully half as 
much as their wages amount to, and about half the 
lime, they are absent, running the street. You 
must i-'emember that the house help will in no case 
do the washing and ironing ; this has to be done 
outside and will Cost you otte dollar per do^en 
pie^C'e'R 'of wearin'g clothes, towels, etc; iot washing 
bed clothes they charge more. It must also be re- 
membered that the negroes have a kind of secret 
society regularly organized, including both the 
men and v. omen, and they meet regularly and fix 
dieir own prices for doing housework, cooking, 
Vvashing, etc., and they stick right there and to the 



1^6 FLORIDA AS I T IS. 

prices fixed, so you must either do your own work, 
not have it done at all or pay the prices, and 
should you have help and turn them off ior any 
cause, you will not be able to get an}^ other until 
you agree to take back the one that you turned off. 
Occasionally you can get white help, but ver}^ sel- 
domly, and when it can be had the character of 
the parties is generally such that you do not care 
to have them about you, so here again you find 
that unless you have plenty of mone}', your women 
folks must bear all the burden, which certainly has 
no tendency to improve either their health or tem- 
per as the writer ver}^ well knows. Should you 
hire negroes to clean house or do any other ordinaiy 
work by the day, they board themselves, come 
when they get ready and quit when they please, 
and unless you have the price fixed beforehand, 
they will charge you three times what they should, 
and if you do not pay them on the spot, they 
V\ill sue you and make you pay more cost than 
their wages amounted to. Remember this is no 
fancy sketch, but the actual iacts as they occur 
dail}^ so you see you must not only take the cli- 
mate of Florida as you find it, but also the house 
help as you can get it or have no houses ; true you 
can board, and not be bothered with house help 
and your washing in any case will not cost so 
much, but 3'ou will find that a boarding house 
life in Florida soon becomes monotonous. This, 
however is "Florida as it is," and what are you 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1^57 

going to do about it. 

There is this can be done, either conform to the 
habits and customs or get out of the State in the 
shortest space of time. Another thing can be said 
about the washing of clothes, it takes twice as much 
washing as it does in other places, particularly in 
the dry season, tne nature of the soil (sand) is such 
that it soils clothes quickly, and garments that can 
be worn a whole week in the North, must here be 
changed two or three times a week, and unless the 
bath is used every day, a change of under gar- 
ments is necessary every 24 hours to be clean and 
comfortable. You will soon see this item of wash- 
ing and ironing is no small thmg in housekeepmg 
in Florida, and it requires perhaps more clothing 
here than it does where the seasons are not so warm 
for the reason that the frequent washings and rough 
handling wears them out more than the actual wear 
I will close this article by advising all families who 
intend cominor here to remain lor some time to 
bring the help needed around the house, with them 
and be independent of the natives and negroes. 
Your outside work you can get done at much more 
reasonable prices. 
SOMETHING ABOUT THE COST OF CLEAN 

ING, AND PREPARING LAND FOR 

ORANGE GROVES, AND TRUCK 

FARMS IN FLORIDA. 

Suppose you purchase first quality high land us- 
ually covered with a thick growth of yellow pine 
trees ; these must be removed, and a contract is 



15^ f^ORlDA AS IT IS. 

made to clear the land and prepare it for the pTow > 
this will cost from 25 to 50 dollars per acre depend- 
iiis: oil whether' the stumps are all io be taken out, 
and also the number of trees on an acre, atid still 
more on the aimount of grubbing. ^Should there be 
much saw palmetto (not usually the case on such 
land) on the land, the timber is worth something 
provided it is near a saw mill, then arrangements 
can be rrlade to sell the timber on the stump or for 
a certain per cent after it is sawed. The best plart 
is to sell the stumpage, count the saw frees and get 
the money before the trees are cut, for should yoU 
agree oil a per cent, it is advisable to remain with 
the saw mill party. Ifi any case the cleaning of the 
land will cost about the same, especially if the" 
stumps must be removed which is dilficult"^after the 
trees afe off". The stumps are removed as follows :' 
The sand is removed from around the roots to the 
depth of 12 or 15 inches, the roots are then chop^ 
ped off and the tree in tailing often draws out the 
tap r0ot, otherwise it is ctit off about a foot below 
the surface of the groufid, the saiid filled jrf; the 
roots covered y- atid as pirie roots or stumps hevet 
sprout they are out of the way for all time to come. 
You now see that it is easier to remove the stumps 
while the tree stands, as it helps to pull its own 
stump, otherwise it must be dug out or cut so low 
as to be out of the way of the plow. The plowing 
will cost from 3 to 5 dollars per acre, fencing from' 
-ts: ^o to $2.00 per rod depending on the kind 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 159 



of fence. The land after being grubbed and plow- 
ed should remain without planting for at least one 
season, otherwise it will not produce it being wild 
and sour, unless you stir (plow) it and use fertil- 
izer. You must fertilize nearly all the time to grow 
anything. To plant an orange grove, here again 
the cost is governed by the kind of trees planted. 
Good thrifty budded trees three or four years old, 
will cost you about one dollar each ; you can, how- 
ever, get trees as low down in price as twenty-five 
cents a piece that do sometimes make bearing trees 
in the future. Fifty orange trees to the acre is 
about the right amount to plant, although some 
plant as many as one hundred trees to the acre. 
An orange tree should have about as much space 
of ground to grow on as an apple tree in the 
North. 

Clearing second-class pine land usually costs 
more than first-class, for the reason that there is 
always more palmetto on it, although not nearly 
so much timber. The grubbing out of the palmetto 
root is quite a job. The tops are not large, being 
only a bunch of leaves, but the stems of these leaves 
are from a foot to four feet long, and some of them 
are more than an inch through ; the shape or form 
of the stem is about half round, having two sharp 
edges, and the edges are full of teeth the entire 
length, something like saw teeth, and are about 
one-eighth of an inch long and sharp pointed and 
about as close together as a number twelve saw 



i6o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



teeth ; the points all turn toward the ground of butt 
of the stem and are hard and solid as a green briar 
and cut equally as badly when you come into con- 
tact with them. The roots of the saw palmetto 
do not lie deeply in the ground, that is the main of 
principal root; they, however, have small lateral 
roots that penetrate the ground to a considerable 
depth. The length and thickness of the main root 
are simply enormous; the fact is, it is hard to find 
the farther end of them and if it were not that thev 
are not entirely underground, you could not find 
them at all, they extend for rods and rods, over- 
lapping and intertwining with, and over each other 
thus completely covering the ground, in many 
places. They are of a kind of fibrous compositiori 
and are laminated, or grow in layers and between 
each layer is a kind of natural cloth that can be' 
separated into sheets after the matiner of isinglass, 
and after being separated, it has the appearance 
of having been woven in a loom; the warp and 
woof, or chain and filling are just as plaiftly showil 
as in a piece of burlap bagging. The '.vritef has 
seen pieces of this stuff or natural cloth over a foot 
square ; the leaf sow^e-vvhat resembles the palm leaf 
fan, so common in the North, but is solid only one- 
third of its length. 

When you come to grubbing out this kind of 
stuff and making the land or sand tillable, it will 
cost you from thirty to eighty dollars per acre, es- 
pecially should it be intermixed, which is very 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. i6i 

often the case with hog or scrub palmetto. The 
tops of this kind look like the saw palmetto, but it 
is much smaller in the top and teeth, the roots grow 
straight down like a beet and are from three to 
six inches in diameter, and from one to three feet 
long ; they are much harder to grub out than the 
other kind. 

FENCING. PLOUGHING, &C., SAME AS 
BEFORE STATED. 

HammocK land is much harder to clear and pre- 
pare for a crop or a grove, and will cost more than 
double as much as any other kind of land to clear 
and prepare for the plow. After being once read}' 
to plant, the expense for fertilizer is not by one- 
half as much as the pine lands ; the cost of fencings 
ploughing, planting, &c., is about the same in ail 
cases^ 

The work of cleaning up land here is very labor- 
ious, and but few white men can stand it, or are 
able to perform that kind of labor, especially in the 
summer season, and the negroes work so slowly 
that it almost makes even a \ap.y white man tired 
to look at them working. You see by this descrip- 
tion ithat the cost of building a new orange grove is 
quite an item^ and particularly so, should it be a 
large one. After it Is started, about the same at- 
tention must be given it as a field of corn in the 
N:rth, and that continually for from seven to ten 
years before you begin to get returns worth speak- 
ing of. In addition you must spend for fertili^^-'r. 



i62 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

on each tree, from twenty-five cents to a dollar per 
year, depending on the quality of soil it is planted 
on. True, in the meantime vegetables and garden 
truck can be raised at the same time after the first 
year, provided the right kind of fertilizer is used. 
In another part of this book you have learned some- 
thing about the cost of raising vegetables in this 
sunny climate, and let me say that what is said 
about raising vegetable and all the other things 
written in this book is true. Interested persons, 
newspapers, circulars and other stories to the con- 
trary, notwithstanding, and proper investigation 
and unbiased examination will amply prove the 
truth of the assertion. I will now give you an ex- 
tract from a Florida newspaper, headed 

DOES ORANGE CULTURE PAY? 

''This is a question which many growers have been ask- 
ing themselves. During the current season of depression 
in the business, a gentleman in Manatee county, whose 
name for the present we withhold, has kept books on this 
branch of Florida farming, and sends us the result^ which , 
in his opinion, does not militate in favor of the grove. His 
account is kept with a five acre grove on good land, under 
most favorable circumstances with best attention. Here is 
the balance sheet after thirteen years of work : 

ORANGE GROVE, DR. 
To first cost near a railroad and growing town 

5 acres at $50 per acre, f 250 00 

To cost of clearing land, grubbing, felling tim- 
ber, removing stumps, plowing and clear- 
ing, 250 00 
To fencing, hog proof, 150 00 
*' 300 trees and setting same, 100 00 
'' cultivating trees ten years, man and horse 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 163 

half time, ploUghiDg, hoeing, hauling fer- 
tilizer and applying, repairing fence^ trim- 
ming, etc., $150 per pear, 1500 00 

To horse in hauling, ploughing, etc , one half 

time^ 900 00 

'ro cost of fertilizer, average 10 cents to tl*ee^ 
300 pounds a year, 10 years 30.000 pounds 
say $20 per ton-, 300 00 

ITo repairing fence estimate, 26 00 

'' interest on capital average of $1500,00 for 

ten years, 900 00 

To use of land ten }€ars fof Vegetable culture 
and other purposes, worth $100 per acre 
per }ear, being for five aci*es for ten years, oOOO 00 

To additional iab^or, doable after ten years and 
double amount of fertiliser up to thirteenth 
year, man and horse three years $1000,00, 
fertilise. $100, 1100 00 



Total cost and outlay at end of 13th year $10175 00 
ORANGE GROVE, CR, 
l5y yield '8th year, estimate to average to tree>, 

total 30,000 at $5 00, 150 00 

By yield 9th yeat double-, 300 00 

^'* " iOth '■ '■' 600 00 

^' " 11th •* " 1200 00 

'• " 12th '' ** 2400 00 

•^ - 13th '^ '* 4800 m 

• possible yield of vegetables for three years-, 

average h^lf <iro|) amon^ the trees, $50 per 

^aere, 750 00 



Total incofi^le^ $10200 00 

So that at the end of the thirteenth year under the most 
favorable circumstances, a man has barely got his money 
back. Under unfavorable circumstances, trees are so set 
back by the cold, drought, disease and insect life that at the 
^nd of ten years are not bearing, or at the end of the fifteentli 
year they do not bear, and time and money are thrown away. 



164 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



I see raany instances of this kind The readers can study 
the above balance sheet and draw their own conclusions." 

POPULATION. 

This is one of the things that there is no certain- 
ty about. You go into any small place in the State, 
ask how many inhabitants are in the place and near- 
ly every one asked gives a different amount. Each 
town or city wants to be as big if not bigger than 
the other town, and my opinion is that were you to 
go to each town and city in the State and take the 
biggest figures that are given of each place, say 
nothing of the rural districts, as few people live 
there and add them together, you probably would 
have six or eight million inhabitants in the State, 
but when we come to solid facts, the census of 
1880 gives as the population of the State (269,493) 
two hundred and sixty-nine thousand four hundred 
and ninety-three. The population has no doubt 
increased some in the last live or six years, but not 
to any great extent, so you perceive that there is 
not such a tremendous amount of people in Florida 
as many interested parties would have you believe. 
TOURIST OR TRAVELLERS 

Usually start at Jacksonville, goes up the St. 
Johns River to Sanford, then by the South Florida 
Railroad to Tampa, then to Charlotte Harbor or 
Cedar Ke3"s by way of the Gulf of Mexico and 
then by the F. R. & N. C. Railroads to Gaines- 
ville, to Ocala, Silver Springs, Leesburg, Eustis, 
Tavares, Baldwin and Calahan, then returns to 
Jacksonville. Sometimes they take time to run up 



FLO RIDA AS IT IS. 165 

to St. Augustine, then they, in their judgement or 
estimation, have seen about all of Florida, and form 
their conclusions accordingly, when in fact they 
have seen and know but little about it. Your trip 
up the river gives you the idea that Florida is little 
else than marsh, water and low lands. At a few 
places you get glimpses of the country, but most of 
it is vast stretches of sw^amp land, cypress swamps, 
cabbage palmetto, live oak, magnolia, pine trees 
and black murky water, for the St. Johns River is 
by no means a clear water stream, though I recon 
no person ever saw its waters muddy ; then at San- 
ford, you board the train and until you arrive at 
"Winter Park and Orlando you pass through a 
sandy country that to Northern eyes, does not seem 
to be good for much, and I am not sure but the 
ideas then formed, are very nearly correct ; then 
from Orlando until you arrive at Kissimmee, the 
most of the land is flat pine woods and unless in 
a dry time, most of it is under water, notwithstand- 
ing all this, some of the very best lands in the 
State, are right here in the neighborhood of Kis- 
simmee City, but you run right on to Bartow, and 
here you will find a superabundance of sand that 
will not impress you very favorably, and away you 
go to Tampa or to Charlotte Harbor — it is still 
sand. You ask the price of land here and the fig- 
ures will be such as to mal^e you open your eyes in 
amazement, and you will surely think the parties 
are jesting, but on further inquiry you will find it 



i66 FLORIDA As iT IS. 



is reality, and if you wish to own any real estate* 
composed of sand in that neighborhood, you will 
have to come down with the cash to the amount of 
the price asked, of some other man will oWn it 
while you are thinking about the trade : you cannot 
see (or any person else for that matter) what in the 
world makes this land sO valuable : yoii soon get- 
disgusted with the place and leave for Cedar Keys. 
This place you have heard and read abouc atid the 
chances are that when you get there, yau will be 
so much disapf)ointed that yoli will iiot even ask 
the price of real estate at all, but will leave by the 
first traiti for Gainesville. Here you vviil probably 
be disappointed, too, but it will be the other way, 
the place being so much better tlian expected ; I 
do not mean the land, for that is still sand, but the' 
buildings and the enterprise and business of the 
town* It is more like a Northern tov/n than any 
one 1 have seen m the State. The town is well 
laid off, the streets are wide and good board and 
brick pavements are laid all over the business part 
of the town, as well as on many of the sti'eete wi^ere 
the private residences are, and many of the build-^ 
ings are of brick and well built; you will also find 
that property here is held at very high figures, so 
that a man of ordinary means must look elsewhere.. 
From here you will go to Waldo. Here is said to 
be the largest orange tree in the State, which is- 
said to have yielded at a single crop as many as 
thirty thcusand oranges. About this time you will 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 167 

be about ready to return to Jacksonville, or it may 
be you will visit Silver Springs, Ocala and some 
other places, but in any event you will soon return 
to the starting point. After a review of the trip, 
you will possiblv begin to think that there is either 
not much in this Florida business or that you have 
made a mistake in the route taken. You did make 
a mistake in the route, and as for there not being 
much in it, you may be more than half right in 
that also. 

On your first arrival at Jacksonville you should 
have gone direct to Gainesville by rail, then either 
bought or hired a horse and buggy there, got some 
man (and there are plenty of them to be had by 
simply bearing their expenses) that was well ac- 
quainted with the country, and then drove abou^ 
the county, gradually working Southward by way 
of Orange Lake, Citra, Micanopy, Ocala, Wier 
Lake, Leesburg, Eustis, Maitland, Tavares, 
Apopka, Ocoee, Gotha, Lake Butler, and so on as 
long as your inclination and time would allow and 
your money in your purse held out, in the mean- 
time talking to everybody and anybody that will 
talk to you, ask all the questions you can think of 
and ask the same questions of different persons, 
and do not pass the negroes by, they very often 
can, and will give you information that is obtain- 
able in no other way. A sojourn in the State of 
two or three months in this way will give you more 
minute and correct information concernincr the ins 



i68 l^LORlDA AS IT IS, 



and outs, advantages and disadvantages of it than 
you could obtain in ariy other way in double or 
even quadruple the time, in fact there is no other 
way to find out all about Florida and the people of 
the State, but to go there and mingle with them^ 
and as to safety ot a persons life and property, you 
are just as safe in almost any part of Florida, (if 
you conduct yourself properly) as you would be 
anywhere else in the United States, and a great 
deal safer than many places I know of that boast 
of their high state of morality and civilization. 

ACCLIMATATION. 

Persons may come to Florida in the late fall 
season and remain until early spring and escape 
any and all bad effects from change of climate, or 
sometimes they can take a tour of a month or two 
at almost any season or time of the year, and not 
feel any change so far as their bodil}' condition i?* 
concerned, but to come and remain here for a year 
or more, 3^our system Will, and must undergo s 
climatic change, and this change usually SnoWS it-^ 
self by affecting the botvels and sometimes very 
seriously, or by a spell of a kind of low type of 
fever or by sores and boils, particularly on the 
ankles and legs and by the sand or Florida itch, 
which It will be almost miraculous should you es-= 
cape the latter. Should you remain in the State 
a whole year at one time, this acclimatation, while it 
sddomproves fatal, is very annoying, A little 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 169 

pimple with a yellow spot or head will rise, say on 
your ankle or somewhere between the ankle and 
the knee nt is a small bit of a sore not worth mind- 
ing at first, but in a day or two it inflames and en- 
larges so that in a very short space of time it is an 
open sore that you could not cover with a silver 
dollar, and if the proper remedies are not applied, 
it will e?ftend all around the leg, and perhaps you 
will not get this sore healed until another one 
starts on the other le^ or on your arm^ and fre- 
quently these sores are on both legs and arms at 
the sam.e time. It is very seldom that any sores of 
this kind breaK out on the b^dy, but the body is 
the place for the sand itch* Should you have a 
spell of sickness soon after arriving here, you w^ill 
probably escape the sores, but not one in ten escapes 
the itch. You cannot imagine how anno3'ing it is 
to have to rub or scratch, and the more 3"^ou scratch 
the more itchy the parts become ; you become al- 
most wild, and I recon that if ever you felt like 
saying cuss tvords^ you will feel like it about this 
time. Well, let me tell you, that if you come to 
Florida to live and you stay here, you will in all 
hikiftan probabiuly go through this ordeal. It is 
•an axioiti and self-evident that in changing from 
one climate to another, where the living is differ- 
-ent, what you eat is different, your habits must 
change with the country— almost everything is 
changed, and consequently your system must 
■<:hange to conform to the climate : this, then is b.- 



I70 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

coming acclimated, and it is a law of nature that 
must, and will be obeyed, you, however, by proper 
care in eating, do not overindulge in anything, ex- 
pose yourself as little as possible-to the direct rays 
of the sun, remain indoors in the heat of the day, 
and by observing natures laws carefully and close- 
ly, you will thus become acclimated without any 
serious trouble to yourself or any person else, 
WHO SHOULD GO TO OR VISIT FLORIDA. 

All persons who have an abundance of money, 
and who make a business of spending their sum- 
mers at Northern watering places, such as Sara- 
toga, White Mountains, Deer Park, Ocean Grove, 
and other such places in order to spend their money 
avoid the extreme heat of summer and thus enjo}' 
life by going to Florida and spending the winter 
season. There you will avoid the extreme cold 
and freezing winters of the North, and can bask 
in the sunshine of Florida to your hearts content, 
and have all the out and indoor enjoyment you 
want, provided you have plenty of money. 

Florida in the true sense of the word, is a winter 
resort and that is about all it is. You now perceive 
that the pleasure seekers should all come here in 
the winter season. 

HUNTING AND FISHING. 

The parties who delight in hunting and fishing, 
and who care nothing for time or much how they 
live, should come here and hav^e a good time gen- 
erally, as game and particularly fish, in many parts 



FLORIDA As IT IS. 171 

are plenty and with a little manoeuverin^^ and exer- 
tion, game and fish enough, with pelts and alli- 
gator hides, call be caught and sold to keep soul 
and body together. I know of no place that would 
suit people of the above class any better than in 
Florida. 

SPECULATORS. 

The parties who niake a business ot speculating 
n a business Way ifi lanlls in towns i^nd lots, can 
find no better iieid to ply their Vocation in, provid* 
ed they have money to pay as they go, they will 
'make money rapidly, provided their judgement is 
good and propei'l}' 'exefCised* 

Sick and feeble persons who are afflicted with 
■asthmalic and pulmonary troubles are often bene- 
fited and sometimes entirely cured by spending 
their winters in Florida, provided the}^ come here 
before the disease becomes too deeply seated. The 
■trouble with this class of people is that they tfy aM 
>he home remedies that thev can get hold of before 
coming here, and by this time it is very often toe 
late, and the climate of Florida or any " other di- 
oiate will not do tliem ?ny good. If you Come at 
•al'k ^^on^ie whefe iht disease is in its first stages, 
otherwise you ha^ better stay at Kome. Every 
person that has the time and money to spend should 
take a trip to Florida and then they will know 
something about it and can judge for themselves 
about what kind of a place it is and what kind of a 
*climate it has. 



172 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

TIME TO COME. 
This depends a good deal on what you are going 
to Florida for. If on a tour or visit, one time is as 
good as another — I would say come whenever you 
please. If, however, to remain in Florida a year 
or more, come in the fall, either in October or 
November for the reason that the acclimating pro- 
cess (which all who come here from a distance and 
remain here must expect to go through) will be 
likely to affect you much less severely than at any 
other time ; let me here say, if you think of becom- 
ing a citizen of Florida, whether you have a family 
or not by all manner of means go and see it and 
remain until satisfied that it is a better place than 
where you now are, and then move there and not 
until then. Should you find or thmk Florida not 
the place, then remain at the present location, or 
seek a home elsewhere. 

WHO SHOULD NOT COME TO FLORIDA 

Except to see it. Persons who are well situated 
in the North, or who are in moderate circumstances 
having a comfortable home, and doing well enough 
had better let well enough alone. The mechanic 
who can make a living in the North, cannot better 
his condition here for the reason that wages are no 
better than where he is. The clerk has no busi- 
ness here at all except in isolated cases for the 
reason that hundreds of men in delicate health 
come to Florida for their health, who not having a 



F LORIDA AS IT IS. 173 

superabundance oi lucre ^ attempt to help out same 
by clerKing or any light work they can find. Many 
of them will work or clerk for their boarding and 
even less, as whatever they do make or get, is 
that much ahead. Many of them are first-class 
clerks, so you see there is no use of clerks, and they 
should not come, if to better their conditions be the 
object. 

SCHOOL TEACHERS, 
School teachers get better wages in almost any 
other State than Florida, yet there are s^me good 
schools here and the people brag considerably 
about their educational institutions. 

DAY LABORERS. 

Day laborers need not be idle here unless they 
want to ; wages, however, are no better for gener- 
al work than they are in the North. About the 
only advantage a day laborer has, he need not 
lose much time b}^ reason of snows and bad weath- 
er, and if he can stand the heat, he might do about 
as well here as elsewhere, but no better. 
SICKLY PERSONS. 

Especially if much reduced by reason of sickness 
except as before stated, should not come here, for 
the change will be more likely to do harm than 
good, particularly if the person has not an abund- 
ance of money, for they will find that the cost of 
comfortable living is high, and as the worry on ac- 
count of the expense of living and enormous bills' 
that the doctors will charge, will, in all probability 



m FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

aggravate the disease and make it worse instead of 
better, and here an idea occurs to me that if your 
family physician, who knows all about your system 
and has had a chance to note all the symptoms and 
facts connected therewith, cannot do you any good. 
It does seem to me to be the heighth of folly to 
suppose for a moment that a strange doctor who 
knows nothing at all about you or jour case, should 
be able to do you much, if any good, so in m}^ 
judgement 3^ou had better remiain at home and save 
your time and money. 

THE LAZY MAN. 

The lazy man will find his business entirely over- 
done all through the State, and will find no open- 
ings to pursue his calling. There are most too 
many lazy people here now, both male and female 
MERCHANDISING. 

The handling of dry goods, groceries, boots and 
shoes and indeed all kinds of merchandising ig 
overdone in all parts of the State that I have been 
in or can hear of. The general complaint is, that 
there are more stores than the place affords, conse- 
quently the merchant need not come here expect- 
ing to make a big fortune at the business, and if 
he does come in the faice of all this, he will in the 
end, in nine cases out of ten reap disappointment 
and loss. 

STOCK RAISING. 

In some parts of the State, particularly in the 
extreme Southern counties, there are large cattle 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 175 

ranches, and certain parties make a business of 
raising cattle. There are parties who own from 
a few hundred head to many thousands, I 
suppose this is so, because a number of people say 
it is so. These cattle have no special care, but run 
at large the whole year around ; at certain times in 
the year, these cattle are, what is called rounded 
up, coralled and branded. Each owner has a 
brand peculiarly his own. This brand is recorded 
in the archives of the State and all cows (cattle) 
having this brand, belongs to the party owning 
said brand. No two brands dare, or can be alike. 

The native ca Ule or cows of Florida are all small, 
the best of them being not much better than a good 
yearling calf at the North, 

In the winter season the cattle become poor ; dur- 
ing the late summer and fall they are in much bet- 
ter condition. The best of these cattle are selected 
out, gathered up and driven Northward in the State 
until the owner finds a market for them. They 
usually have from thirty to fifty in a bunch, and sell 
them to butchers, who cuts them out, (as they call 
butchering here). These cows sell for, from five 
to ten dollars a head, depending more on age than 
quality. You observe that this sandy country and 
warm climate does not produce either large or fat 
cattle, nor do they bring big prices, and yet they 
brin£^ all they are worth, because they are not 
worth more than they bring. Often the beef in the 
markets here is something like this ; Take a poor 



l^6 FLORIDA As IT IS., 

steer or cow from among the poorest stock cattle: 
you can find in the North, kill and cut up, and 
you have something a good deal like the Florida 
beef, especially that which is killed here during 
the winter and early spring. As befors stated the 
Cattle are in much better condition in summer and 
fall, consequently the beef is better, but Florida 
beef at its bestj would be considered sorry stuff in 
the North, and so it is in Florida.- 

The Florida pork is better' than the beef, partic-- 
tilarly so when the hogs are penned ; v/hen they 
are left run at large, the meat is a kind of a red- 
dish yellow color* This is caused by by the hogs 
eating what is called paint foot, which grows wild 
in this country. This paint root grows something 
like the artichoke of the North ; the roots are small 
and seem to be mtieh hunted, after by the wild 
hogs, which devour them greedily with the above 
result to the meat. It is said the meat is perfectly 
healthy ,■ it may be, I ivaJit but little of it in mine.- 
The iiMive hog when full growiJ and iti ordinary 
case, will average in weight about fifty pounds. If 
is a very large one indeed, and very lat, that will 
weigh one hundted pounds. There are a number 
of hogs running wild in the wild lands of Florida. 
These are common property, btrt are generally so 
gaimt and wild that they are about as hard to shoot 
as deer, or any other wild game, and alter 3^ou 
have them, they are not of much account. 

An extract from the Times Union, a daily paper 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1 7 7 

published at Jacksonville, Florida, in their issue of 
Sept. 4th, containing the following on stock rais- 
ing: 

" Stock raising id I^lorida is much discussed in the news- 
papers and in private circles, but upon few subjects so much 
discussed is there manifest so great degree ot ignorance of 
the merits of the question. 

The climate condition of the country, the varieties of vege* 
tation, the drouths that some se isons preyail, and rains at 
otiiers, covering the entire surface with w-iter f^r miles in ex- 
lent; the Hies that goad the cattle to frenzy at times, aud rob 
them of their life bloodv; the msed of proper food at some 
seasons, and not least the fact that the Southern cattle fever is 
■endemic in ail portions of the State, and particularly in the 
South, a disease that all cattle in this State at some period of 
theii* lives must undergo, and which in one-half the cases ter- 
minate fatally with imported cattle aud thus preventing breed- 
ing up from imported blood, are seldom or never taken into 
Hccourit by those who have acquir'^'d their experience in stock 
raising in other States, and especially in the great plains of 
the wps^ There, each blade th it springs from the soil, is as 
nutritious as the blue grass of Kentucky, or the white clover 
of the Northern pastures, and when the rains have ceased and 
the frosts have come, its nutriment is not dissipated, but parch - 
•ed and dried^ still give food to the flocks and nerds, but in 
Florida not more than tliree-fitths of what grows in the water- 
soaked ground, contains any nutriment, and if we are to give 
credit to the actions of the men who have the care of Florida 
cattle, the dried vegetables are only fit to light the ilames that 
strip the whole regions of their summer growths. 

On the plaines and in the pastures of the Northern States 
cattle can find dry beds on whi-ch to repose and ruminate, 
but in -Florida there occur seasons when the cattle would need 
to t'ravel miletj to find a'dry spot on which to lie, and then 
1iei'(5Qr3 are 'often compelled to make their bed on a fallen log 
or upon a pile of bashes and grass, where they may secure 
such sleep as tkey can in the midst of swarms of mogquitoes 
and flies. 

These lands may answer for cattle pastute during the dry 
season; for there does come times wben it may require as many 
miles to find water for drinking, as in the v/et seasons to secure 
the dry place for the stock to Up upon. Kvery stackman nra!=t 
admit that dry land on which the cattle may lie. as well a« 
■'easy accees to water lor drinking purp( ses, are absolute nu.-c^s- 



178 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



sities for the health of stock. If our position on this point be 
correct and the character of the country, such as those who 
have ridden over many miles of it describe it, then it follows 
that this is not a stock region of great value. It might be 
used advantageously in connection with dry lands to which 
the cattle might retreat for resting places; and it may be 
drained of its covering of water. (It a place can be found to 
drain it into.) Ttie noxious vegetation destroyed and the 
more nutritious grasses, like Bermuda para and smutt ^^rasses 
introduced, and thus become as famous for its grazing qualities 
as for its genial climate, but in its present condition, it is yery 
different irom the dry plains, mountain sides and valleys of 
the great west, and men should not allow themselves to be 
deceived by appearances during such dry seasons as have been 
during the past two or three years, or by the flattering ac- 
counts of land agents, whose objects are to secure a commis- 
sion lor selling. 

Cattle raising in Florida may, and should be prominently 
adjunctive to a more general farming, but from the natural 
conditions of Florida, it will scarcely reach the position of a 
leading industry, far less will it ever become the leading 
staple product." 

HORSES. 

As before stated are small and will not average in 
weight much over 600 pounds, but are quite hardy 
and can stand more work than the general run of 
horse ftesh, gentle and docile and do not seem to 
be vicious or to have bad habits although tricks 
will be learned if not properly handled. 

From what has been written it will be seen that 
all the domestic animals of Florida are small, some 
indeed quite small, and little effort is made to im- 
prove the domestic stock ; the little effort that has 
been made resulted in failure. A few good bulls 
have been brought into the State and turned wdth 
the herds, and that was the last heard of the im- 
ported bulls. The forage and climate does not 



FLORID A AS IT IS. 179 

seem to agree with other than the native cattle nor 
do I have an idea that the bovines and equines of 
Florida can be much improved until Florida be- 
comes an agricultural Country where all the cereals 
and tame gf asses can be grown, and this accord- 
ing to the present nature and climate of the State 
will never be» 

And now let Us as^ why it is that Florida is such 
a great place. If it is as so often represented, why 
is it that the horses, catde, hogs, and many of the 
wild animals are so small and insignificant? and 
why is it that even with all the fertilizing that can 
be done, there is no extra or even large vegetables 
of any kind grown in the State? but on the con- 
trary, the vegetables and nearly everything that 
grow^s out ot the ground are of only ordinary or 
inferior size as compared with the same vegetables 
and other things in the countries or places in which 
the same vegetables and things grow and mature. 
This subject of size and maturity of vegetables, etc, 
is a subject that should not be overlooked by per- 
sons or parties emigrating from one place to an- 
other. There certainly is something in it and an- 
other thing you will see by observing closely, that 
in all the blowing and booming that interested 
parties give to Florida, there is very little said 
about size and quality, it is all quantity. The 
reason of this is that size and quality (oranges and 
a few other things excepted,) will not bear investi- 
gation, therefore they are left in the background. 
The quantity misleads, and you take for granted 



i8o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



when the quantit}' is sufficient, it is understood that 
size and quality must, or at least ought to corres- 
pond ; take for example : Mr. John S has 

ten thousand head of fat cattle — this is quan- 
tity , you at once conclude that these cattle are 
large and in first-class condition — this is size and 
quality. Now this conclusion is legitimate and 
natural, and one that almost an}^ man would arrive 
at under ordinary conditions, but as before stated 
in this book, Florida has a climate and also many 
other conditions peculiarly her own, and these must 
all be well understood to arrive at true conclusions. 
I have described the size of cattle in Florida as 
well as what the people there call fat beef; now 
you see that size and quality has a different mean- 
ing than that conveyed in the notice that Mr. John 

S had ten thousand head of cattle. This 

same comparison or explanation will carry out in 
nearly all cases where quantity is spoken of, and 
you will in a very large majority of the cases find 
size and quality ver}- conspicuous on account of, 
or by reason of ther absence in their description. 

Another thing the people in the North are led to 
believe and that is that in Florida the people al- 
ways have an abundance of fresh vegetables, such 
as radishes, lettuce, spinach, beans, peas, tomatoes, 
cucumbers, squashes, red beets, melons, turnips, 
and indeed all kinds of garden sass, the whole 
year around ; that all that is to be done is to go in- 
to the garden-patch and get whatever you want 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. i8i 

and whenever you need it, and also bring right 
along a basket of strawberries, a pine apple or a 
bunch of bananas, figs or pomegranates, oranges 
or some other tropical fruit. Such, however, is 
not the case by any manner or of means, all garden 
truck, vegetables and fruit have their seasons and 
while this season is perhaps a little longer and 
comes much earlier than in the North, the rotation 
is very similar to the same products in the North. 
All vegetables and seeds that are usually planted 
in the North in April and May, in this countr}^ to 
make a crop, must be planted in January and Feb- 
ruary ; if planted here much later the hot sun and 
dry weather prevents their maturing. It is true, 
however, that if you plant in the month of Novem- 
ber and get no frost in December and January, 
(nearly always frosts in both these months all over 
Florida,) 3^ou will sometimes get a few vegetables 
as a kind of second crop. I have ate watermelons 
in November taken right from the vine ; this, how- 
ever is the exception, and not the rule. After July, 
and I may say after June, the vegetable crop in 
Florida is over until the following March or April. 
Do not understand that we do not have an}^ veg- 
etable and tubers in Florida during all these months 
from July to March, for we do have them, but ver}' 
much the larger part of them are shipped into the 
State from other places, but the strong probabilitv 
s that, unless you have plenty of money at com- 
mand, you will not indulge much in eating them. 



182 FLORIDA AS IT ig. 

When Irish potatoes are a dollar a peck, as they 
how are, July 2d, 1886, it is not likely that people 
in ordinary circumstances wil indulge very extrav- 
agantly or extensively in them. Apples, peaches, 
pears, plums, cherries, grapes,- currants, rasp-^ 
berries, blackberries, gooseberries, and all such 
fruits and berfies are seldom seen anywhere in 
Floridia, except in the large towns and then the 
price is such as to be only within the reach of com- 
paratively few of the inhabitants » The above' 
named fruits and berries, however can be had al- 
most any place in the State in the form of canned 
goods at tolerably reasonable prices. Considering 
you are a long way or distance from y/here they 
growo The facts are that Florida is not now, and 
in my judgement never will be self-supporting. 
if it were not that Northern capital is largely in-* 
vested in speculative enterprises, there would be 
very little, if any motiey afloat.- Speculation you 
know is no producer ^ (Its plain name is gamb- 
ling), and the money made by speculation does 
not by any means, enhance the prodneing qusfMes 
of the country, but rather retards the progress of 
any country or town ; take for example a town any-^ 
where that is just newly laid out and is just fairly 
started. CapitalisTs come along and buy a num- 
ber of lots in what should be the business part of 
the town ; it may be under a verbal promise that he 
will build and improve so and so, thus he is en- 
abled to get the lots at a low figure, but as soon 3.^ 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 183 

he has the deeds for the lots, he now says, gentlt- 
men these lots are mine, and if any person wants 
them, they can have them at about so much ; he 
will put his figures at double or treble what he paid 
for them. If parties do not want them at these 
tigures, the lots are put into the hands of an agent 
and off the owner goes, regular dog in the manger 
style, he will neither improve or allow any person 
else to do so unless he doubles his money. Now 
his buying these lots does not enhance the pro- 
ducing qualities of these lots one iota, but his buy- 
ing them on speculation has undoubtedly retarded 
the progress of the town sometimes to that degree 
that persons w^ho would buy and build, go else- 
w4iere and invest their money where speculation 
does not run quite so high. Many cases of this 
kind have come under the writers observation down 
here in this '-sunny climate," but what causes this 
speculation? The plain answer is this ! Booming, 
lying and misrepresentation, for there is nothing 
substantial to back up the State, no production 
that will, or ever can be made to pay in any shape 
or form whatever as a general crop, and there is 
nothmg to export from the State that v^ill bring a 
revenue. There is not much over a quarter ol a 
million of inhabitants in the State, and the State in 
itself cannot begin to support what are now here 
and if you take out of it all the speculating capital 
and the produce and stuff that is shipped in from 
the North and elsewhere, nine-tenths of all her in- 



1% FLORIDA AS IT IS. 






habitants woi)ld be obliged to go somelvhere dsef 
for it would be impossible for them to obtain a liv- 
ing in her borders* I ain well satisfied frotn per- 
sonal observance that there is in value ship|)ed into 
the State at least teti dollars to every one that is 
shipped out of it of its own production* This, no 
doubt will seem strange to some of my readers who 
have read of the wonderful productions of this 
wonderful State of Florida, bu! no matter how 
strange and startling it m^y appear^ Wheil you 
come to investigate this matter closely ^ yoti will 
find the facts as sefe forth in t;his book^ t3 be' about 
the true state of the case^ I will only say lit 
CONCLUSION 
That ctll persons who have a desire to come to 
Florida may come, the road is open and it does 
tiot cost much to get hete, but look Out after you 
do get here^ but let me advise" all who do come to' 
see well to k thai you are not misled,- Get all the 
Infofffiation you. can ivom evety source atia from 
personal inspection And ^nves^ig^tio^, ihe^ make' 
1ip yo^lf min4s either to come of stay Ivh^re' f6\i 
are. Slsou'ld you come and succeed well^- if you 
do not succeed ^ell, jou iviD have to feiame some- 
body other than the wtiter^ for if, after having 
carefully read this little book 3'Oti are still in the 
dark, then nothing but sad experience will enlight- 
en you. 

And now the writers task is finished ; how well' 
it is done is for the reader to judge, and for the' 
visitor, tourist and emigrant to Flori^ja to know,- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 185 

Especially the latter*. The book is not w ritten in 
high flowh lailgUdge of filled with rounded perior- 
atioHvS, the aim has been to write so that any, and 
all who read this booK will-, of can understand it. 
Some parts seem to be tautological > this the writer 
deemed necessary to the proper and full understand- 
ing of these pfirticular parts» Again the writer is 
wholly responsible for th<e entire work, except parts 
of tw^o ietVeis quoied of Copied ^^nd the balance 
sheet on orange groVe. The writer has wriiten 
entirely from persoVial knowledge, observation au'd 
his own judgement^ beihg right 'on the ground 
While writing, and the objecl of the book is the 
greatest good to the g^'entest nufAbcr, and if what 
^s said herein ^v ritten is heeded as it shouMbe^ then 
\he object will be accomplishted. 

Moreover the wri'tef is well ^aware of the fact 
'that land agents, land sha^ks> speculators and 
parties who ate iftterested in the sale x>( Florida 
^ands (santi), but who in few insl-ailces \lv^ or 
make their hom^s there (th'C whole yeaf M*o^nd), 
but who do make their money tkere-^ w?Il <ies>y the 
facts se^. fo^th m ^h'm book, a/kd will n'>3 dowbt say 
•all %\:dn%tr of^;kiAgs about Ihc writer, and will cry 
•out, •^'tTr^ali:ist:he Goddess Diana of the Epheseans'' 
because their shrinks ^and craft m endangered. 
Reader make ^he ap^plicat^o"n yourself, B-iit be it 
•known, the writer owes Uo m^an in Florida 
^anything and he has no favors to ask, or is he 
iiucli afraid oi any person fa^:e to face-. He h^;s 



i86 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



been, and lived in a good many of these United 
States. He has always tried to live as closely to 
the ''golden rule" as possible. He has lived long 
enough in Florida to know that what is written in 
this book is about as near the facts as they can be 
put on paper, and he further knows that a resi- 
dence of a year or two in the State, will demon- 
strate the truth too late however, for this book to 
do the demonstrator or experimenter any good, 
only he will then know if he had given proper at- 
tention to what was written in the book, he would 
have saved time, money and perhaps health ; such 
is "Florida as it is." The Author. 

APPENDIX. 

Dogs, cats, hogs, and nearly all domestic and wild ani- 
mals are polluted with mites. These mites look just like 
small fleas. They are black in color, very active — ^jump 
like fleas, are ver) hard to catch ; they get on the human 
body whenever opportunity offers, and sometimes when it 
does not offer, and when they do get on you, you will think 
from their bite and other movements that they are fleas— 
and they are fleas, and of the worst kind at that, but they 
are mites in Florida. These miles or fleas (not chicken 
lice) that get on domestic fowls, are of a different species, 
they have the appearance of those above described only much 
smaller. This kind, it is said will not stay on the human 
body (I doubt this, however.) They become so numer- 
ous on the fowls at certain times, that unless destroyed by 
proper remedies, they literally destroy the skin and the fowls 
will die. It is said the same remedies that destroy chicken 
lice will also destroy these chicken fleas. 

As before noted, the buzzards are numerous here, and 
they are all polluted with mites. This is no doubt 
true, from the fact that if you be to a slaughter pen where 
buzzards gather very thickly, they being after the beef of- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1B7 

lallj &c , soon after they have been there, and in a short 
time you will ii id yourself polluted wich mites, and these 
mites ar^i identical \virh chicken lice. Allj or nearly all the 
wi'd beasts-, and especially the plame birds, herrons, cranes, 
and such as are so niuch sought after^ killed and dressed 
for ladies headgear, are literally polluted with these abom- 
ioable mites and f!eas and I sometimes tbink if the ladies 
kne'vv what kind of messes they wore on their headgear, 
these piumes would not be quite so highly prized, but 
human nature is pretty nearly the same all over, and oce- 
iia'f the WvjrM d )as not know, or do they c ire mueh what 
the othef half eafs of wears-, only so thej get the money for 
It. 

As to the cattle (cows) , I do not know, of could 1 by any 
means fiod out whether or no they were or are infested 
with flea«?5 but they are infested with ticks, a kind of a large 
louse, [ have se^n some of these ticks when they had 
surkpd themselves full of blood that were as large as a small 
hi Tkory n\3tj th?. usual si^e of this kind of tick is about the 
size of a lars^e sheep louse. There is also another specie?; 
of tick called a seed tick^, this one is very minute and arc 
plenty They are a wee mite larger than the red bug, but 
they do not seem to be as poisonous as the red bug-, but arc 
nearly as annoying when they get on you. They are blar-k 
and can be seen with the naked eye, cv-en before they have 
filled theraselve4 ; when they are full they drop off and wait 
for the next victim, whether it be man or beast, they do not 
appear to have any particular choice on whom -or what 
they prey. 

As to human body, lice or gray backs I kn-oW 'n-otmng 
about them, neVer having seen one in bU my life, but 1 
rat^_er sr.pposis they ar^ in Florida also, for nearly all the 
little pestB t know af or have ever heard of, «,re here, and 
it is not very likely that the graybacks are missing. As 
to ants, they are here of all sizes, irom the tiny little red 
fellows to the big winged one that is an inch and a quarter 
long, and of all the known species or sorts that are in the 
tlnited States. There is a red ant that is about one qu^irter 
of an inch long that gets into the houses same as the little 
i;-cd ones. These »re very dfstructive and pugnaci'vus, nvd 



FLORIDA AS IT IS, 



when they get on your person as they frequently do, they bit« 
or pinch furiously. 

About stinfijing insects. These are not more numerous than 
in some other parts. I now speak of these insects that have 
fttiogs in the business end. We have a few bumble bees, 
hornets, yellow jackets, wasps and a few other stingingr insects 
There is also a good many scorpions; this is something ap- 
parently between a ^maJl sized lizzard and a lurge spider and 
has a stins: in its tail and is very poisonous and dangerous. 

About flies: House or common flies are about as tht^y are 
elsewhere; where much filth is they are plenty, otherwise not 
so numerous, there are however, very many more ol the large 
grayish or blue flies here than I ever saw anywhere else; there 
are several species of large flies known as clags, that are amon^^ 
cattle and horses of a species that I never saw only here; there 
are several species of what are called mosquito and fly wasps 
that seem to destroy the flies to some considerable extent: 
sometimes if you are near a herd or bunch of cattle, you 
wiil hear a noise something like bees swarming and you will 
see thousands of these wasps all over ard among the cattle: 
The cattle do not seem to mind them at all, and on close 
watching you will see these wasps catching flies. As soon as 
a wasp catches a fly, he makes a bee line f-r somewhere; where 
it goes, or what it does with the fly I do not know. What 
are called in the North snake sarvers or snake feeders, are 
called mosquito wasps. These mosquito wasps are numerous 
and so are the mosquitoes, and ri^ht here I would say that 
either the mosquito wasps do not understand their business, 
or that there are not enough ot them to do the business, for 
there is a very large superabundance of mosquitos left over 
and above what are destroyed by the wasps, if thcT destroy 
them at all. Worms of all kinds except angle worms, are very 
numerous. It is almost impossible to keep anything in the 
shape of dried Iruits or berries, these little crawling pests get 
into them and destroy them. Yeast or yeast cakes may be 
good when you get or buy them, but in a few days are full of 
worms; flour and corn meal in a very short time is literally 
crawling with worms; spices and even black pepper and to- 
Vjacco becomes wormy — the latter two mav seem uncreditable, 
I did not believe it until I saw it myself. It is impossible to 
keep fresh meats of any kind over twelve hours, and I have 
seen it swarming with maggots in less than six hours from the 
time it was killed; without iee and plenty of ice at that, and 
the best refrigerators will not keep fresh meets sweet and good 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 



without turning green much over forty-eight hours, although 
maDy butchers and others do keep and sell it. After the ex- 
piration of the above mentioned time, how good or healthy it 
is, I will leave £or you to judge. The fact is, if the people 
who visit Florida knew exactly in what condition many of 
the things they are eating had been, they would turn fiom 
them in disgust. A whole chapter might be written on how 
butcherp, and particularly hotel and boarding house keepers 
prepare their meats for sale and table, but I will dismiss the 
subject by simply saying that if it were not f)r charcoal, soda, 
smoke and spices, much meat that now goes into tue human 
stomach would go into the buzzards craw. 

An item on faiming in Orange county, Florida. A few days 
ago the writer in conversation with a Florida farmer he 
said he owned a sixteen acre farm within two miles of a lively 
town ol twelve hutdred inhabit ants, that eight acres were 
cleared and under the best of cultivation; it had all been cow- 
penned and well tramped, that he had quite a number of 
orange trees on it, some of which were in bearing; that part of 
it was in corn; that it was the best corn he had ever seen in 
Florida, (he lived in the State all his life) and he believed it 
would make nearly twenty bushels of corn to the acre; that 
his buildings were pretty fair log dwelling house and stables 
that besides this he had about seventy head of cattle (he said 
COWS; Jrom one to twenty years of age, ten or twelve head of 
hogs and a good many chickens; and that he wanted to sell 
the whole outfit; that he must have money, and would take 
thirteen hundred dollars for the whole business, real estate and 
all, and make a good and sufficient warrantee deed, and give 
possession at once. Now the wiiter knows all about this par- 
ticular man and bis place, and further that the man did not 
misrepresent anything, and the property seems to be cheap, 
and is cheap as a speculation, and I know that by a little 
booming in this case, a clear thousand dollars could be made 
inside of six months, yet with all this, T would not take the 
price asked and what could be made beside and be compelled 
to live on this place for two years. Now if you will read the 
above over again carefully, you can perhaps read between the 
lines a good deal more than what there is written on the lines, 
and perhaps get something that will engage your thinking 
powers for sometime, and in the end you will perhaps wonder 
what about the end man. 

You no doubt frequently hear and read about the prairies ot 
Florida; you who live in the North-West know what prairies 
Hre in that country, and form your conclusions at once that; 
the Florida prairies aie about the sime. Again, when you 



igo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

come to see them, you will find out your mistake as in many 
other things. What they call prairies here, are well defintd 
tatural markings generally around cypress swamps, where 
neither trees or bushes grow, and it is covered with watei" 
about half the year. It unly differs from Mareh lands in, that 
it is sandy bottom and nothing will grow on this kind oi 
land but the poorest kind of grass and not very much ol that. 
These so called prairies are from a few yards to several hun-^ 
dred yards wide, or in other words, they extend back from 
the cypress swamp until the land becomes high enough that 
the pine trees will grow. There is another kind of land that 
is sometimes called prairie, that is, when as is sometimes the 
case, a lake becomes dry from the bottcm falling out or in 
some other way. See account of Lake Leyy or Paines Prairie,' 
This comes much nearer being a prairie, than anything they 
have in Florida, but the fart is there is no land in the State 
that I, or you either, for that matter would Call prairie land 
by any means. 

When you come to Florida, before you eat or sleep ascertaic 
what it is going to cost you for a meal or a bed, otherwise 
you will probably think you have been oyercharged. Again, 
if you have a trunk or anything to carry (haul), better make a 
bargain before *.he work is done, otherwise you will probablj 
pay seventv-iive cents where twenty-five cents should have 
paid the bill. So, in having any work done of any kind, me- 
chanical or otherwise, have it well understood what you are 
to pay, either by the day or Job, and if the amount is of any 
considtJdble size, have the contract in writing and well speci- 
ified, otherwise you will, in all probability have to pay in the 
end from one-half to double as much more as was agreed upon 
for example the writer contracted (verbally) with a party to 
do a certain job of mechanical work, spceifiying by drawings 
how the work was to be done fo? a specified suM of money 
to be paid when the work was finished; all well the wor& was 
done, and not very well done either, the party refused to 
abide by his contract (there was no witness) and charged by 
the day, so that instead of the bill being one hundred and ten 
dollars, it was run up to within a few dollers of two hundred 
and there was no other way than to pay or haye a law suit, 
which in Florida, abote all other places, should, and must be 
avoided. Now, had the above verbal contract been in writing 
and well specified, the writer would have saved about seventy- 
five dollars, There was a small amount of extra work that 
should have been paid lor, and it was mighty well paid for 
too. 

Many more instances and examples could be given, particu- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 19I 

larly in setting out groves, clearing up lands, etc., Where the 
absf lute necessity of written contracts c^me in and without 
them you will certainly get the worst ol the bargain, and with 
them the chances are about even to hold your own, and tight 
match too. 

And now 8h{>uld you ever visit Fh^rida, and I hope you will 
and give heed to the advice given, in a very short time it will 
save you many times the price of this little book in ihis one 
Item alone. 

UNDERWRITING OR FIRE INSURANCE 

In Florida presents a rather singular and perplexing feature, 
If the S^ate is so prosperous, so healthy and such an excellent 
place to do business in. why is it that nearly al! the old reli- 
able and substantial fire insurance companies, both in Europe 
and America, rt^luse to do business in the State? Many of 
these companies did start to do business in the State, but after 
a trial ot a year or two, on account of the enormous losses and 
unprofitableness of the business, c »ncelled their policies and 
withdrew from the State, and to-day there is no strong, reli- 
able fire insurance company outside ol the State or inside eith- 
er, that I know of (and I have made dilligent inquiry) that 
caies to, or will establish an agency in her borders, and those 
that are now doing business in the State, are withdrawing 
as fast as their licenses expire. 

Rates of insurance against loss by fire iu the State are en- 
ormously high, amounting in many cases to as much as ten per 
cent per annum of the amount insured, and even v/ith their 
rates, nine-tenths of the companies that have done business in 
the State in the laiit three years, haye done it at a loss, in many 
cases thousands of dollars annually. These facts are taken 
Irom the State Treasurers report, who is also the insurance 
commissioner by virtue of his oflSce of Treasurer. 

Now this state ot things indicates and shows very clearly 
that underwriting in the State of Florida is at present in no 
flourishing condition. Referance being hnd to the above 
named reports, will establish this fact beyond doubt or cavil. 
I think I CO uld give good reasons lor this state of aff'airs, but 
will let the readers draw their own inference and conclusions, 

A TURPENTINE ORCHARD. 

Consists of a pine forest of from ten to one hun- 
dred or more acres of heavily timbered yellow, ot* 
terpentine pine land. The trees are kerfed or 



92 FLORIDA As IT Is 



chopped in from four to six inches deep, about iXvO 
feet from the ground the kerf is cut in the form of 
a bowl, so that it will Contain from two *:o four 
quarts of liquid. The keJrf is cut about one-third 
round the tree, the bark and white wood is then 
hewn or chopped off above the kerf from four to 
six leet, and little gutters cut lengthwise on this sur^ 
face all leading into the bowl shaped kerf. The" 
crude turpentine eoon begins to flaw or ooze out 
of the surface and runs into the kerf from whkh it is 
removed into buckets and barrels and t^ken to the - 
still where it undergoes the process of distillation c- 
RESULTANT, SPIRITS OF TURPENTINE 
AND ROSIN. 
When the trees are first tapped or prep^lred a 
Nearly pure liquid turpentine runs out# and in a few 
days it begins to harden and forms a kind of S 
crust on the otit sui'face and in the kerf. This 
eru5t if left for several days becomes qtiite thick 
a;nd tongh ; this removed with scrapers and taken 
to the still same as liquid and und^rgoe-^^- the same 
process* Afcov^t once a month the trees are goli^ 
over with an adze or ax and a little wo?>d taken 
off the turpentine surface.- The next season the 
opposite side of tree is treated in the same way 
with as good fesults ;- thus yon see a turpentine 
orchard is good for two years , though some par-- 
ties cut the trees so as to make three turpendne 
faces, then it takes three years to exhaust the tim- 
1)er.- The timber after being exhausted is used 



FLORIDA AS IT IS. 193 



for lutnber^ it being^ just as good as if the turpen- 
tine had not been drawn off except the lew feet of 
*each tree that had been hew nor hacked to obtain 
the turperitirte arid rosin. 

The process of distilling turpentine is similar to 
distilling other substances^ but is attended with a 
2:ood deal of dat^.gef on account of its inflamable 
fiature-. Iv. iherefoie requires a good deal of skill 
and cafe lo fun a turpentine still with -safety and 
profit. Thefe are but few turpentine stills in 
Florida, ti.ot because Ihere is not plenty of the 
Hght kind of pine, but I think the reason is, there 
^is too much work for the money made by the pro- 
cess-. 

A review^ ot the Diston Land and Drainage Com^ 
■pany's doings, w^ritteil about the beginning of Sep* 
tember, A. D., 1886, immediately after a rainy 
season of about ten weeks duration : 

Sometime about the beginning of 1882 this com^- 
pany Comm^enced operations on the banks of Lake 
Tohopekaliga, vvhere the town of Kissim_mee now 
stands, they built two sm.all steam boats, the Okee- 
chobee and the Rosalie, and several dredge boats* 
dug a canal four mJles long at the Scuth. end of 
L-aki^ Tohopek^liga> This canal seemed to lower 
^:he W'i^ker in said lake se\>^eral feet and a good deal 
of marsh land seemed to be in a fair way to be- 
come fit for cultivation-. The company were en- 
couraged by this seeming success and proceeded 
to cut a canal between East and West Tohopeka- 
liga Lakes. When this canal was completed the 
effect was to lower the w^ater in East Tohopekaliga 
'5ome three or four feet, and th^e marshes thus 



T94 FLORIDA AS I T IS. 

drained have not been submerged since. The com- 
pany then worked further South, opening up v\ ater 
ways so that at this date there is steam boat navi- 
gation and water communication through to the 
Gulf of Mexico. In the meantime the so-called 
reclaimed lands were largely advertised through- 
out the United States and Europe, and the strong- 
est kind of inducements held out for the people to 
come and invest their money and settle upon these 
lands. Many persons did come, bought and set- 
tled and began making improvements some of them 
on a large scale, the land appearing all right, it 
being composed almost entirely of decayed vegeta- 
ble matter, the accumulation of hundreds of years. 
As soon as the marshes became dry enough, they 
were cultivated, vegetables were planted and grew 
miraculously, the seasons continuing dry for sever- 
al years, and everything works to advantage of the 
Company and to those who bought. Cabbage to- 
matoes, beans, Irish potatoes, cucumbers, melons 
&c., grew and produced immense crops. Pine 
apples, bananas, lemons, and even orange trees 
were planted and are doing well, when in January 
1886 a cold snap came and froze the crops. The 
parties planted their crops again and grew rapidly 
and were harvested before the rainy season set in, 
the corn, sugar cane and later crops were in prime 
condition, when on the 19, of June 1886 it began 
to rain. In a short time the lakes filled up and the 
so-called reclaimed lands with their crops were cov- 
ered w^ith w^ater. For some reason the canals fail- 
ed to carry the water oft' and on Sept. 3, 1886, the 
waters in all the lakes and marshes south of the 
Tohopkaligas rose higher than before the Drainage 
Company commenced operations. The water in 
East Tohopkaliga did not rise within about three 



PLORIDA AS IT IS. 195 

>eet of where it was before being drained. West 
Toliopkaliga was aavertised as being lowered six 
feet, but to-day its waters are about a foot of being 
as high as it was before the Company began work, 
leaving thousands of acres of corn and sUgaf cane 
submerged making a total losg as it has now been 
under water over two months and it rains almost 
every day. The waters in the south part 01 the 
State ate said to be higher than for years, whether 
froiil cutting canals and partially draitiing the up=- 
per lakes or from rain, who Can tell. 

Many of the cattle ranges in Manatee, Polk and 
Brevard Counties are so much under water and the 
pasture so drowned out that the cattle are being 
taken to high ground to saVe them. 

You observe two Calamities have befallen Florida 
this year. First, a freeze out, then a drowned out 
A few moie such visitations will dampen the ardor 
of the most sanguine operators. It is said that the 
Company intend to get machinery to enlarge the 
canals and nlake another effoft to drain the lakes^ 
with what success is left to a future writer. 

It is admitted that the climate of Florida is un- 
dergoing a change, that the summers are becoming 
warmer and wetter '; that the winters are colder and 
severe frosts more frequent ; this being the case>, 
there must be and is a cause for it. May it not be 
that the clearing up of the land^ the destruction of 
the timbef and forests and drawing the lakes may 
have something to do with this state of things, who 
knows? 

We, how^ever do know that God created this 
world and all things therein, that he looked upon 
the finished work and pronounced it all very good. 
But man, God's own creature, is ambitious and 
>must needs attempt to improve on his works. Will 



196 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

or is he able. Nature has certain inexorable laws 
with penalties attached, and the violation of these 
laws is sure to bring the penalties. Now God had 
a wise purpose in all his creations and no doubt 
Florida with her pine forests, her dense Hammocks 
sand, lakes and climate, was designed for a special 
purpose in nature. And now if man by his de- 
vices and plans, attempts to change that purpose 
will he succeed without suffering the penalty, who 
knows? 

USURIOUS EXTORTION. 



HOW IT EFFECTS CROPS. THE OPINION OF A FARM- 
ER AT GAINESVILLE. 



Madison County, Florida, Aue^ust 21; 1886. 

Agricultural Editor Weeklx Times: — "I wjfh you 
would write up our t^ection in the Times Union, in relation to 
the usurious extortion practiced on our farmers, , laborers and 
poor people generally. For instance one ol our tarmers will 
go to a merchant to ''run him," that is to help him through; 
he, the farmer, will have to make a mortgage on his crop, 
stock, etc , to perhaps twice the amount he wants: say one 
hundred dollars; from this the money lender takes twenty-five 
dollars for interest, probably for six months, say from March 
to October, when the mortgage is due; then sells the farmer 
forty or fifty dollars worth of goods and charges him the bal- 
ance of the amount, twenty-five dollars, so the farmer gets 
fifty dollars worth of supplies for six months, and pays one 
hundred dollars lor them, and if a balance is carried over, he 
pays interest at the rate of two per cent per month. One 
honest usurer, an employee of the F. R. and N., chargis ten 
per cent per month. 

This whole section, the Black Belt, is eaten up with usury, 
and the area of Old Field and Broom sedge is rapidly widen- 
ing in extent. 

Some years ago Savannah merchants made advances to 
larmers, but I have been told that the merchants from inter- 
ested motives broke these up. When the farmers received aid 
from Savannah we shipped in 1870 about 3,000 bales of cotton 



FLORID A AS IT IS. 197 

from Greenville; last year, 1885, we shipped only about 400 
bales, a falliog off ol 2,600 bales. Ancilla can show about the 
same recDi-d. 

Write this up if you please, and can we not get relief? I 
am largely interested in land and il the poor people are eaten 
up with usury and extortion, ol course my land and ail the 
property of middle Florida will be valueless. We need re- 
lief badly, and the whole thing of extortion in middle Florida 
ought to be ventilated." Very truly, 

M. W. Linton. 

INTEREST OR USURY ON MONEY 
LOANED. 

All promissory notes, due bills and bank accounts, 
draw interest at the rate of eight per cent annum 
unless otherwise specified, but any rate, of inter- 
est is legal in Florida, when specified in the 
writing, note, or contract. Banks charges from 
one two three per cent per months on loans, it 
depends some on the kind of security and length 
of time. 

Mortgages on real estate are usually drawn to 
draw two per cent per month and sometimes more 
than that. The party who gives the mortgages 
must pay all expenses 01 writing, acknowledging 
recording and releasing, or satisfying the mort- 
gage and very often has to pay a commission to 
somebod}^ for negotiating the loan. This makes 
the business of borrowing money very expensive. 
I know a case where it cost a party something over 
twenty dollars to get the use of two hundred dol- 
lars for less than forty days. 

So long as a man has money of his own in his 
pocket, he is all right and can do about as he 
pleases, but let him get m debt and have to borrow, 



198 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 

he will then find out the value ot money, if not 
betore. 

The above was taken from the Weekly Times 
of a recent date and while the wa-iter applied the 
case to middle Florida, it applies equally well to 
the whole State, and foreshadows what the final 
result must inevitably be. 

THE ORIGIN OF STATE JNAMES. 

New York — named by the Dake of York, under cover ot 
title given him by the Eaglish Crown in 1064. 

New Jersey — sa-called in honor of Sir George Carte?'et, who 
was Governor of the Island ot Jersey in the British Channel. 

Pennsylvania — from William Penn, the founder ol the new 
colony, meaning Penns woods. 

Delaware — in honor of Thomas Wesc Lord de la Ware, who 
visited the bay and died there in 1010. 

Maryland — after Henrietta Maria the Q'leen of Charles I of 
England. 

Virginia — so-called in honor of Qaetu Elizabeth, the ''virgin 
Queen," in whose region 8ir Walter llilergh, made the first 
attemj^t to colonize that region. 

North and South Carolina — were originally in one tract, 
called Carolina, after Charles IX, of France, in 1001, subse- 
quently in 1005 the name was altered. 

Georgia — so-called in honor of George II, of England, who 
established a colony in that region. 

Florida — Ponce de Leon, who discovered that portion of 
North America in 1519, named it Florida in commemoration 
of the day he landed there, which was Pasquade Plores of the 
Spaniards a feast of flowers, otherwise known as Easter Sun- 
day. 

Alabama— formerly a portion of Mississippi Territory, ad- 
mitted into the Union as a State in 1819. The name is of 
Indian origin, signifying, "here we rest." 

Mississippi — formerly a portion of the Province of Louisi- 



FLORIDA AS IT IS . 1 99 

ana, so named in 1800 from the great river on the Western line 
The term is of Indian origin, meaning the "long river." 

Louisiana — from Louis XIV of France, who from some time 
prior to 1763, owned the territory. 

Arkansas— from Kansas, the Indian name of "Smoky Water' 
with the French prefix arc. bow. 

Tennesee — Indian name for *'the river of the big river^" i.e. 
the Mississippi, which is the Western boundry. 

Kentucky— Indian for "at the head of the river Ohio," trom 
the Indian meaning beautiful, previously applied to the river 
wliicli traverses a great part of its borders. 

Michigan — previously applied to the lake, the Indian name 
of a fish'Wicr so-called from the fancied resemblance of the 
lake t > a fish trap. 

Indiana — so-called in 1802 Irom America Indians. 

Illinois — irom the Indian "illini" men and the French suf- 
fix ""ois" together signifying "tribes of men." 

Wisconsin — Indian name for wild rushing channel. 

Missouri— named in 1830 from the great branch of the Mis- 
sissippi, which Hows through it. 

Iowa — Indian named, meaning the drowsy ones. 

Minnesota— Indian tor cloudy weather. 

California — the name given by Cortes, the difccoverer of that 
region. He probably obtained it from an old Spanish romance 
in which an imaginary island of that name is described as 
abounding in gold. 

Oregon —according to same from the Oregon river of the 
West. Others say it is derived from the Spanish Oreganoo 
wild Marjournm, which grows on the Pacific coast. 



ERRATTA. 



PAGE. 


LINE. 


READ. 


FOR. 


12 


" 17 


about 


almost 


13 


22 


foot 


feet 


12 


34 


stroke 


strike 


12 


27, 28 


bellow 


hollow 


17 


3 


through and and 


though and are. 


19 


6 


lumber 


timber 


65 


8 


item 


stem 


68 


3 


stickey 


stick 


(( 


14 


house 


horse 


(( 


16 


flower 


flour 


(( 


26 


are 


ore 


71 


24 


clean 


clear 


83 


26 


head 


neck 


95 


7 


humbuggeriea 


humbug!.,'ers 


9G 


14 


taxes 


takes 


108 


15 


. intended 


attended 


107 


25 


sav • 


do 


131 


25 


if.so 


.50 


131 


28 


130und 


bushel 


121 


32,33 


omit 


leet 


139 


S7 


gloss 


glass 


151 


9 


men 


man 


156 


25 


help 


houses 


177 


29 


vec(etation 


vegetables 


177 


42 


stockman 


stack man 


196 


13 


Greenville 


Gainesville 



NOTE. 

Since writing page 142, nearly all the railroads in Florida 
have been changed to standard guage. 



IIOIIDA A; 



IT TELLS ALL ABOUT THE INDUS. 
TRIES OF THE STATE, ITS CLI- 
MATE AND RESOURCES. 



J^rttteii in Common Sense Language withoiit 
■paint or varnish^ 



BY 



1>JS W. B SMOBMAKBR. 



1887, 



NEWVILIili, PA., TIMES STEAM PRINT. 



